Shinobi Generations
by xAnathemax
Summary: The time period in which Naruto Uzumaki and his comrades had existed has passed. New Jinchuuriki have been created and peace continues to exist between the five nations. Follow the journey of a new Jinchuuriki as a group of malicious shinobi try to tear this new world apart.
1. Chapter One

[Alright, Readers. Here is my first chapter! The reason this chapter came out so soon was because I was already three-fifths done with it when I posted the introduction, which this chapter replaced. Tell me what you think of this chapter in reviews or in PM's or whatever you want. Also, expect Chapter Two in the next week and a half, tops.]

Chapter One

1

_I'm late!_

It was about 7:37AM on the second Wednesday in June. The darkness had just abandoned the sky an hour ago and now clouds littered it, leaving the sky with a gray tone and one with an occasional view of the sun.

Even this early in the morning, there was some activity going on in the Hidden Leaf Village. Some people were on their way to their jobs, some were giving their pets an early morning walk, some were going for a jog, and most kids were at the Academy. Most of the kids were already at the Academy, seeing as classes began at 7AM. Almost all of these kids made sure to be there on time because today was the day of the Graduation Exam. Almost all of them were on time, except for one kid.

_Oh, dammit! I'm late!_

Keiji Jakunen, age twelve, was the only student of the Ninja Academy who overslept and therefore, he was the only student who was late. The exams began at 8AM, so there was still some hope for him to get there on time to take it.

After waking up at 7:25AM, it had taken this tardy boy about fifteen minutes to get ready to leave. He had packed his bag with a hastily prepared lunch, some writing utensils, a black case a bit bigger than a dictionary, and notebooks and quickly left the house at 7:40AM, being careful to not slam the front door to his house shut. He wouldn't want to wake his dad and have him realize that Keiji was late. That would cause him to go into Lecture Mode and then Keiji would surely be late for the exam itself.

Keiji was standing outside of his house, his right hand behind his head as he let out a deep sigh. Days that started out stressful tended to progress further in that direction. He knew this from personal experience. This wasn't entirely too stressful, though. He was running late but he would definitely make it to the Academy, which was five minutes away from his house, before the exam started. He might receive a lecture from his sensei, but Keiji was sure that he would still be allowed to take the exam.

He started to briskly walk down the sidewalk, not bothering to break into a run since he would get there before 8AM either way. The Graduation Exam had changed over the years. It used to be held all on the same day, but it had been broken down into a two-day exam a few years back. The first day, students would take the Written Exam where they would be tested on all sorts of basic informational knowledge which they should have retained during their time at the Academy.

The second day was a Physical Exam, where the students would be paired off and set up to fight each other. The students would be allowed to use any Ninja Tools or Ninjutsu at their disposal. In the match, it wasn't about winning or losing. The proctors would watch you and grade you on how well you fought and reacted to danger during the match. Therefore, the person who lost the fight would have just as much of a chance at graduating as the person who won. There was only one rule in these fights, and that was that you could not kill your opponent.

Keiji, along with all of the other students at the Academy, had taken the Written Exam yesterday and he had passed. He was a decent student and never really needed to study for anything. He would always get decent grades on any test that he took, and he assumed that this meant that he could be a pretty good shinobi when he graduated. Either that or he was extremely lucky. Keiji was actually willing to bet that it was the latter, only because he didn't seem like the smart type.

Keiji arrived at the front doors of the Academy in four minutes, a whole minute earlier than he had expected. Stealthily pushing open the large wooden doors, Keiji slipped into the building and made his way over to his classroom. The door to his classroom had been left slightly open, making it easier for him to slip into the room.

The classroom was set up in a circular fashion. There were three rows of seats, which started from the back wall and moved down towards the center of the room. The three rows of seats existed in four sections around the room, the sections only being separated by aisles which led up to the doors and down to the base. The room itself had a slight decline once you entered it, so the people who sat at the back row could see the center of the room without having to look over or around the kids who sat in front of them.

At the center of the room, in a smaller circle, there was a raised platform. The platform, along with a small area around it, was the only area in the room that was on a leveled floor. The sensei that was teaching the class at the time would typically teach from this raised platform. They could roll a blackboard up onto the platform if they needed to by using one of the two access ramps on either side of it. Whenever sparring matches were held, they were also held on this platform.

The class was made up of twelve students, including Keiji, and a single sensei, so most of the seats in the room went unused. Boys outnumbered the girls at a 3:1 ratio, meaning that there were nine boys and three girls. Keiji wasn't too well acquainted with all of the other kids, but he knew about them. About eight of the twelve kids in the class were part of well known clans, such as the Hyuuga clan or the Uchiha clan. Two of the remaining four were aspiring specialists and the remaining two were not included in the two aforementioned categories. The last two consisted of Keiji, himself, and one other student.

Luckily for Keiji, the class was in the middle of reviewing the rules for the Physical Exam, so no one appeared to notice as he entered the room. The instructor had her back to the class as she was writing something on the blackboard, which gave Keiji the perfect opportunity. He moved down the aisle that led away from the doors and down the decline and noticed two of his friends sitting in seats in the second row. Keiji started towards an empty seat next to his two friends but was stopped when the instructor called out his name.

"Keiji Jakunen." the female instructor Amane said in mid-sentence. Keiji froze in place as every other student turned to look at him. Amane sighed and waved her hand for Keiji to continue. "Don't even give me any excuses. Just sit down and we'll begin the exam."

_**How did she notice me? **_Keiji thought, sitting down in the seat next to his friends. Even before today, Keiji was usually late to class. It happened often enough for Amane to expect it. Fortunately for Keiji, she liked him as a student. Amane saw that Keiji had promise as a shinobi and wouldn't let something as minor as being late ruin his chances at becoming a shinobi.

"Keiji, you idiot." the boy sitting on Keiji's right said in a hushed tone. This boy had shoulder length jet black hair and eyes of the same color. His name was Kurizu Shimizu, of the Shimizu clan. The Shimizu clan sprung up in the Hidden Leaf Village about thirty years ago, eighteen years before Kurizu was even born. At the time, there were quite a few members of the clan. Their numbers had grown considerably since then.

The Shimizu clan was known for their _Midori no me, _or Green Eyes. This was the term given to their technique by those unfamiliar with the clan. The technique was a Kekkei Genkai called the Bariagan. The users eyes become green when the Kekkei Genkai is active, which was where _Midori no me _originated.

"Really, Keiji. If you were any later, Amane-sensei wouldn't have let you take the exam." the boy sitting next to Kurizu said. This boy had a shaved head, which was almost always covered by a plain dark blue bandana, and a pair of light brown eyes. His name was Yasuo Arai and he was probably ranked somewhere near the top of the intelligence list, out of the other Academy Students.

Yasuo was an exceptional student. This had caused rumors to be passed around the class about him. Some say that he has mastered ten jutsu before even graduating from the Academy while others say that he knows how to skillfully use several different kinds of advanced weapons. The rumors centered around the boy's talent. These rumors were mere exaggerations. Yasuo had only mastered a single jutsu, which was more than most of the other students could say, and he was only familiar with the use of bladed weapons.

Keiji, the only boy in the Ninja Academy with short, spiked white hair coupled with deep blue eyes and a height that falls to 5'5, grinned as his two friends spoke. These two were probably the only kids in the entire class who Keiji actually got along with. It's not that the others actively picked on him or anything of that nature. Keiji was just the type of person who only opened up to a few others.

"I told you that I'd become a Genin with you guys, didn't I?" Keiji said, taking the backpack off from his shoulders and placing it onto the floor. He reached into the bag and pulled out the black case. "The reason I overslept is because I've been training to use _this._"

Kurizu smirked as Keiji unveiled the contents of the case. "If you're able to use this thing properly, then there's no doubt in my mind that you could pass this exam." he said, Keiji closing the case and slipping it back into the bag.

2

"Alright, everyone. We're going to start the Physical Exam." Amane said, still standing in the center of the classroom. The twelve Academy Students in the class all sat scattered in the three different rows of seats. They all sat directly in front of her in one of the four sections of three seats, though, so they were in her line of sight. "When I call out your name, please step onto the combat space."

Amane turned to the blackboard that was behind her and promptly rolled it down one of the ramps that led down from the platform. When the blackboard was out of the way, she pulled a small slip of paper out of her pocket.

"Yasuo Arai." Amane read off of the list on the paper. Yasuo got up from his seat in the second row, crossed over behind Keiji and Kurizu into the aisle, and started walking down towards the platform. "Azumi Uchiha."

As the second name was called out, the whispering began. Everyone knew about the history of the Uchiha clan. The Uchiha were supposed to be the elites of the elite. They had the Kekkei Genkai known as the Sharingan, and that alone made them a force to be reckoned with. The clan had supposedly been butchered over a hundred and fifty years ago by one of their own. Itachi Uchiha was the murderer's name. Sasuke Uchiha was apparently the only survivor of this tragic incident and coincidentally, he happened to be Itachi's brother.

Sasuke was out to take Itachi down to get vengeance for his clan and in a matter of time, he succeeded. Sasuke deserted the Hidden Leaf Village and took down Itachi, becoming a part of the Akatsuki shortly after. The Akatsuki was a organization that existed during this time period. This group of ten powerful shinobi had attempted to hunt down and capture the nine Jinchuuriki that existed during this time, Naruto Uzumaki being one of those Jinchuuriki.

During the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Sasuke played a key role even though he no longer belonged to a village. Sasuke, with the help of an unknown accomplice, eliminated Kabuto Yakushi, who was one of the main forces of the war. Kabuto Yakushi had used a technique to resurrect the dead and used them as an army to attack the five nations. One of the people who Kabuto had brought back to life was Madara Uchiha, who had been sent after the five Kages. Sasuke had taken down the resurrected Madara Uchiha, defending the five Kages from his onslaught and assisted Naruto Uzumaki in defeating Tobi, another one of the main forces of the war.

After the war, Sasuke Uchiha had been welcomed back into the Leaf Village, his former crimes all pardoned and overlooked. Both Tsunade and Naruto contributed to this. No one knows why Sasuke had a change of heart. Many believe that the accomplice who had helped Sasuke defeat Kabuto was actually Itachi, and that he had opened Sasuke's eyes.

Several years after he had been accepted back into the Hidden Leaf Village, Sasuke married Sakura Haruno, a member of his former team when he had originally been a part of the Hidden Leaf. The two of them had two children and the Uchiha line started up once more.

Azumi was a fourth generation Uchiha. She had long black hair which was almost always worn back in a ponytail. The ponytail stopped just above the center of her back. She had a piercing in her right ear. Azumi wore a sleeveless dark blue shirt which stopped just above her naval. She wore black pants with blue sandals. There was a blue kunai holster on her left leg and a beige pouch on the back of her waist. Azumi had a metal bracelet on each wrist, along with a metal necklace that hung around her neck. The necklace had an Uchiha emblem hanging from it.

Azumi Uchiha rose up from her seat, cracked her knuckles effortlessly, and started down towards the platform where the fight would take place.

"This is going to be intense."

"I know, right?"

"The elite versus the enigma. How many jutsu do you think Arai will use?"

"Up against _her?_ All ten, no doubt."

The two Academy Students made their way up to the platform, each standing on their own side of the arena. They stood directly across from one another, each eying the other one down.

"Whenever you're ready, you may begin." Amane said to the two kids on the arena. She knew about Azumi. Azumi was a physically tough girl. Throughout most of her childhood, she was able to best the boys in every kind of competition, whether it be arm wrestling or even a footrace. She had the potential to truly live up to the Uchiha name. The thing that made her strength problematic was that she also had a fighting spirit. She would not hold back, nor would she refrain from using dangerous techniques in a classroom setting. The Uchiha clan was known for their _Katon _techniques. If a stray fireball was to hit anything in the classroom, the entire building could be lit up quickly.

During the Physical Exam, Amane's job was to act as the proctor. She would set the matches up, she would call the fights to a close, she would stop the fight from progressing past a fight between comrades, she would do her best to keep any stray techniques from trashing the classroom, and then she would evaluate how each student did in the fight. Amane knew several different kinds of Sealing Jutsu and Binding Techniques, and restraining Academy Students would be no problem with the techniques at hand.

The fight started quickly enough with Yasuo sprinting across the arena towards Azumi. He had never personally fought Azumi before, so it was wise to test out her close combat skills first. If he could overwhelm her in hand to hand combat, he wouldn't need to bring out any of his special tricks. He had kept his techniques a secret, even from Kurizu and Keiji. He had no intention of revealing them in front of the entire class unless he absolutely needed to.

Yasuo threw a punch aimed at Azumi's face followed by another punch aimed at the right side of her head, ending this combo by spinning to his left and trying to connect a backhand with the other side of her head.

Azumi reacted quickly enough. The first punch had been a straightforward attack so sidestepping it would not be a problem. She was able to see through this punch in two ways. First, it was easy enough to avoid, meaning that it was probably just meant to guide her into a following attack. Second, sidestepping it would be playing right into this boy's plan if the first point was true. Instead of sidestepping the punch, Azumi took a step back and pushed Yasuo's arm to the left with her right hand, just before the punch hit her face.

Regardless of the deflection of his first punch, he had continued with his combination and tried to punch her in the side of her head. Azumi blocked the punch with her right forearm and was not surprised when his fist quickly left her arm.

The backhand came next. Azumi watched as Yasuo spun to his left in an attempt to deliver the main force of his combination. Azumi quickly moved her left forearm up by the left side of her head, reinforcing her guard with the palm of her right hand. Yasuo's fist slammed into her forearm making her entire body shake, the backhand being successfully blocked nonetheless. Almost immediately after the backhand had been blocked, Azumi grabbed Yasuo's wrist and pulled him to her right until he was facing her. Azumi brought her knee directly into Yasuo's gut, following it up by elbowing him in the jaw and nearly making him stumble onto the floor.

Blood was now dripping down Yasuo's lower lip, a drop falling to the floor every five seconds. The pain in his gut made it hard for him to stand. Apparently, this girl was an exceptional fighter, so holding back was not an option. The crowd of classmates were cheering, clearly impressed by what had happened. They were rooting for Azumi. They were probably expecting her to win, too.

"Okay... You asked for this." Yasuo said, spitting up a combination of saliva and blood. He stood up straight, ignoring the pain in his gut, and made a single hand seal. Using his left hand, Yasuo rolled up his right sleeve until his wrist was showing. There was what appeared to be a small tattoo on his wrist. With his index finger and his middle finger, Yasuo pressed down onto the tattoo, causing a small burst of smoke to appear in his right hand.

The smoke cleared quickly enough, revealing a blade which he now held in his right hand. It was a shortsword. The entire sword was a solid black, from the tip of the blade and to the metal of the hilt. There was a white cloth wrapped around the hilt and the blade had a serrated edge. It was a sinister looking blade and it was Yasuo's favorite blade.

"_Kuroi Kiba." _Yasuo said, pointing the tip of the blade at Azumi. He noticed the tip of the blade glint in sync with the metal bracelets Azumi had on her wrists. He had a smirk on his face, now. He knew exactly how he was going to defeat Azumi, and it would involve revealing another one of his tricks.

"It doesn't matter how many weapons you can summon, Arai. The result will always be the same." Azumi said, starting to move towards him. There was no point in actually trying against an enemy who you were clearly better than. That had always been how Azumi saw things, and that was why her loss was inevitable.

Yasuo ignored Azumi and stuck the sword into the floor beside his right foot. He made seven quick hand seals and picked up the blade again. Electricity was visibly flowing through and around his entire body. As soon as his right hand touched the hilt, electricity started to flow through the blade as well. The electricity was creating a loud sound, similar to that of chirping birds.

"_Raiton: Denryu!" _Yasuo practically roared. The electricity felt good coursing through his body but it had to leave his body in order for him to win this fight. He started to concentrate the electricity into his hand, essentially making more and more of it flow into the blade.

"He's a... _Raiton_ user?" Azumi asked, becoming more and more intrigued with the more of this display that she witnessed. "It doesn't matter! I'll just dodge your slashes like I blocked your punches!"

The entire class and Amane watched in awe as Yasuo charged the electricity into the _Kuroi Kiba. _To put it mildly it was amazing, but there was one concern. How had Yasuo learned such a powerful technique at such a young age? Same with the summoning seal on his wrist. How had he acquired it at such a young age?

_**No. Raiton: Denryu is a basic Raiton technique that sends a small electric current throughout the body of the user. It's mainly used to repel physical attacks, as a person would be less likely to punch someone who is visibly coursing with electricity than they would with someone who is not. His chakra is amplifying its power and is making the electricity more virulent... or at least, it must be. It's the only thing that makes sense. **_Amane thought. _**Anyone, whether they are an Academy Student or a Kage, could easily learn this technique if they have the right chakra nature and someone to teach it to them. Yasuo's chakra transformed it into something completely different, somehow.**_

Kurizu and Keiji watched from their seats. They were both grinning in awe. Yasuo was every bit as amazing as the rumors about him implied. Yasuo only had to graze Azumi with the sword and the fight would be over.

Azumi started to charge at Yasuo, not wanting to allow him more time to make the electrified sword even more powerful. Yasuo ran at her at the same moment, grasping onto the hilt of the blade with both hands now and holding the sword horizontally to his right. They met in the center of the arena and Yasuo let loose a simple straightforward horizontal slash. Azumi reacted quickly and jumped into the air, doing a flip over the blade and meaning to land on the other side of Yasuo. Before she could even touch the ground, however, the electricity jumped from the blade to Azumi, engulfing her entire body with blue and white.

The electricity kept her suspended in the air as it shocked her, the chirping becoming loud enough to mute Azumi's screams. The entire class watched with open mouths as Azumi was endlessly attacked by the electricity. They couldn't even grasp how this could have even happened. Azumi clearly dodged the slash, but the electricity still got her. Had Yasuo done something to her before charging up the sword?

After about ten seconds, Yasuo released the technique, stabbed the sword into the floor, and allowed Azumi to fall out of the air. He quickly moved towards her and caught her before she hit the floor. Azumi was unconscious; alive, but unconscious. He gently put her onto the ground and also released the summoning for _Kuroi Kiba_, causing it to disappear in a small cloud of smoke.

"Yasuo Arai is the winner!" Amane exclaimed, clearly impressed by the fight, herself. It started off slowly, mostly because of the other students still wondering how he had even won, but the class applauded him all the same. "Yasuo Arai and Azumi Uchiha both pass the Physical Exam. You may return to your seat and will the medics please come and get Azumi!"

Amane understood exactly why Azumi had gotten hit by the attack as soon as the electricity was gone, and this realization impressed her even more. Azumi's bracelets, earring, and her necklace were charred, as if they had taken most of the electric attack. The electricity was most likely drawn to the metal in those objects.

Two medical shinobi walked into the room with a stretcher and made their way over to Azumi. The medics were for the rare event that a student severely injures another student and since most Academy Students didn't know powerful Ninjutsu, they were almost never needed.

Yasuo quickly returned back to his seat next to Kurizu and Keiji.

"Yasuo! How did you do it? That was amazing. Everyone thought Azumi dodged your attack." Kurizu asked.

"It was really simple once I realized it. Azumi was wearing metal bracelets, a metal necklace, and a metal earring." Yasuo explained, the pain in his gut and jaw wanting to take priority. He wouldn't let it, though. Showing weakness now would diminish his victory, slightly. "_Raiton: Denryu _is a basic Raiton technique and it _isn't_ supposed to be powerful. I poured most of my chakra into this technique to boost its power, but more importantly to increase the range of the electricity on _Kuroi Kiba. _Even though she dodged the attack she could immediately see, the electricity was still drawn to the metal that she was wearing so-"

"-so she got hit by the attack that she couldn't see." Keiji finished, impressed by how clever the strategy was. "You know, you're a real genius, Yasuo. You were able to come up with that on the spot like that."

"Nah, I'm not a genius. She just got cocky and let her guard down, that's all." Yasuo said, smiling away.

3

Three more matches passed by and it was finally Kurizu's turn. Amane had called out his name and Ichiro Yamanaka's name. For Kurizu, this was bittersweet. Ichiro was a decent guy and the two of them got along fairly well, so the fight would be fun and something to look forward to. Kurizu wasn't looking forward to _how_ Ichiro fights, though.

According to the Yamanaka boy himself, Ichiro is a long ranged fighter who mainly fights with ninja tools. A long ranged fighter pitted up against someone who can only really fight at a close range has the potential to be complicated, for the close ranged fighter. Regardless, this could only make the fight more interesting. An easy fight wouldn't really be worth winning and if Kurizu could win this fight under these circumstances, it would be even better for him.

Kurizu and Ichiro had both walked up to the arena, standing across from one another at their own respective sides. Looking at Ichiro, Kurizu felt that the boy didn't exactly look like much of a fighter.

"Whenever you're ready, you may begin." Amane said to the two boys who had gone up to the arena. She looked over to the two boys. Neither of them were as special as Yasuo or Azumi, except for maybe Kurizu since he was a part of the Shimizu clan. As far as Amane's knowledge of the two students went, neither Kurizu nor Ichiro knew any flashy techniques. Kurizu hadn't even awakened his clan's Kekkei Genkai yet, as far as she knew. This fight probably wouldn't excite the spectating classmates as much as the previous fights had, but it would still be interesting all the same.

Even Amane thought that Ichiro didn't look like much of a fighter. Ichiro had shoulder-length blond hair with bright blue eyes. He wore a red long sleeved shirt, the sleeves being a lighter tint of red than the rest of the shirt. The boy wore plain black pants and dark blue shinobi sandals, two beige pouches on the back of his waist, and a single blue kunai holster on his right leg. It was a quick judgment, and probably an inaccurate one, but both Kurizu and Amane felt that Ichiro wasn't much of a fighter.

"Yo, Kurizu!" Ichiro called out, waving from the opposite end of the platform. Kurizu waved back with a grin. Even though they were about to fight, they were still friends. "Try not to get hit by too many of my attacks, now. Wouldn't want you to drop dead in the middle of the fight."

"Same to you, Ichiro!" Kurizu said back, not bothering to question any of what Ichiro had said. They started the fight after this brief exchange of words.

Kurizu stood on one end of the platform and Ichiro stood on the opposite end. Kurizu knew that he was already at a disadvantage if Ichiro decided to start attacking with Ninja Tools. Ichiro could hypothetically start attacking with Ninja Tools right away, so closing the gap between them might not be an option. Kurizu would just have to start attacking first.

Kurizu knew all of the basic Ninjutsu, from the Bunshin no Jutsu to the Henge no Jutsu. Amane had been right about him not knowing any flashy techniques. He knew that his chakra nature was Fire so he would be able to learn Katon techniques, but he never felt that he would be able to make a great head on fighter. Kurizu made this realization about two years ago and had decided to use a different approach to fighting.

He reached down and flipped open the holster on his right leg, pulling out two kunai knives and holding one in each hand. He threw the left kunai knife at Ichiro on a slight downward curve. Ichiro dodged this kunai knife easily, jumping to his right to avoid it, causing the thrown weapon to stab into the floor where Ichiro had stood mere moments prior.

Kurizu threw the second kunai knife at Ichiro, directing it more towards his throat. Ichiro reacted quickly and drew a kunai knife of his own, blocking the incoming weapon and redirecting it upwards and towards the ceiling. Kurizu's kunai knife stuck directly into the ceiling. Kurizu threw more and more kunai knives, all in pairs of two, Ichiro deflecting them all with ease. By the time Kurizu stopped, he had thrown eight more kunai knives. They had all been stuck either in the ceiling or in the floor.

Now, it was Ichiro's turn to go on the offensive. He had quickly reached into the holster on his leg and pulled out numerous senbon. Without giving it entirely too much thought, Ichiro started to indiscriminately throw the senbon in Kurizu's direction. Senbon were small weapons and were often thrown at a higher speed than most weapons. Since they were smaller and faster, they were typically more difficult to dodge and deflect.

Kurizu pulled out a kunai knife and started to deflect most of the incoming senbon while running to his right. There were three senbon that Kurizu was not able to avoid while running or deflect with the kunai knife. One had hit him on his right thigh, another hit him on his left shoulder, and the third one hit him on the right side of his chest. These wounds were very minor and only caused small amounts of bleeding, so they didn't exactly concern Kurizu right away. What did concern him was the look on Ichiro's face after the senbon stopped flying.

"I told you not to get hit by too many attacks, Kurizu." Ichiro said with a serious smirk. He had started to make a few hand seals, holding his hands out in front of him after they had been cast. Ichiro was standing in the dead center of the arena, Kurizu standing more towards an edge directly across from Ichiro. There were two of the kunai knives that Kurizu had thrown in the floor behind Ichiro, one of them directly behind his left heel. There was one in front of Ichiro's right foot.

Kurizu's eyes widened at the sight of this. Ichiro only knew one jutsu and that was a technique that had been passed down in his clan for numerous generations. It was one that would allow Ichiro to take over the mind of his opponent, ultimately allowing him to gain full control over the person. If you're hit by this technique, especially during a controlled match like this one, you'd might as well kiss your chances at winning goodbye. The technique had a drawback. The execution of the technique was slow and predictable so it was easy enough to avoid it. Why would Ichiro use such an easy to evade technique right now?

"Here goes. _Shintenshin no Jutsu!"_ Ichiro exclaimed, practically nothing appearing to actually happen. The only thing that happened was that Ichiro appeared to lose consciousness, his body swaying back and forth.

Ichiro's spirit had been launched at Kurizu. It didn't move at a high speed, but it couldn't be seen so Kurizu couldn't tell how much time he had to get out of the way. All that he knew was that he had to move immediately.

He tried to move but found that he couldn't. His entire body seemed to be unresponsive and disoriented. He could feel numbness in the three parts of his body where the senbon had directly hit him. Kurizu wasn't able to move his fingers or his head, let alone his legs. Looking down, Kurizu wasn't able to see anything physically restricting his movement so he was able to guess what was going on.

_T__**he bastard used poisoned senbon to make it so I can't move... and so I wouldn't be able to dodge this attack.**_Kurizu thought, watching Ichiro's body start to sway mere moments before the attack hit Kurizu. Kurizu noticed the kunai knives at Ichiro's feet and felt somewhat relieved._**His body is going to fall into-**_

At that moment, Ichiro's spirit reached Kurizu and immediately took over. Kurizu fully lost control over his body and found his opponent in control instead. It was like being a passenger in the vehicle that was his body.

"You lose, Kurizu..." Ichiro said through Kurizu's vocal cords. Even though Ichiro had gained control over Kurizu's mind, the mind still belonged to a poisoned body. He wouldn't be able to have Kurizu walk over to Ichiro's now lifeless body to get the antidote for the poison. He wouldn't be able to have Kurizu walk out of the arena and forfeit physically. What it would come down to was a verbal forfeit. Even speaking loudly, however, would be difficult for Kurizu to do. It could be done, though.

Ichiro's unconscious body had stopped swaying and now, in fact, began to fall backwards. This didn't concern Ichiro too much. So what if he sustained a minor injury from falling back onto the floor? He had Kurizu in the palm of his hands. He won this fight as soon as Kurizu had been poisoned. The falling didn't concern Ichiro at all, until he noticed his body get snagged on something in midair.

There was a bright light in the form of a line directly behind Ichiro's body, suggesting that it had been caught on a thin metal wire. The metal wire was connected to one of the kunai knives that had been behind Ichiro and one of the kunai knives that had been embedded in the ceiling. The metal wire started to give, Ichiro's body causing the connecting kunai knives to pull out of their homes in the floor and ceiling. As this happened, the other eight kunai knives that had been scattered started to pull out simultaneously, all of them being drawn in towards Ichiro's body.

Kurizu's eyes widened as Ichiro watched this chain of events occur through them. Ichiro's body had tripped a single wire that Kurizu had cleverly set up with his first and only series of attacks, and this tripping of the wire caused four more wires to be tripped. When all of the wires had been tripped, the kunai knives had been drawn to the epicenter, which was precisely where Ichiro's body was. The kunai knives that had been in the ceiling fell down towards Ichiro and with that momentum, they began to wrap around his body, the blades sinking into Ichiro's body after the wire was tightly wound around him.

_**Too little too late, Kurizu... **_Ichiro thought. It didn't matter that his body had been rendered immobile. He could still win this fight by making Kurizu forfeit, which was exactly what he intended to do. _F__**orfeit the match, Kurizu. Say the following words: I give up.**_

Kurizu resisted as much as he could, but his mouth seemed to be forming the words against his will. He resisted with his eyes shut tightly, trying to mentally push Ichiro and his control away.

_**Get out... get out... get out... get out...**_Kurizu thought, unaware that his eyes had become green beneath his closed eyelids. He felt power, though, as if he was regaining control over his body. He wasn't, but the power that he was feeling was inspiring him. _**Get out! Get out! Get out! GET OUT!**_

Kurizu roared this last one both mentally and verbally, his eyes opening as he did. A green light emanated from his body for two seconds, at the very most, and a strange force was exerted from his body. It was an invisible force pushing away from Kurizu's body with enough power to crack the ground beneath him. At this precise moment, Ichiro had been forced out of Kurizu's body and back into his own.

"What the... How? How did that happen?" Ichiro questioned, confusion present in his question. His body was wrapped up tightly in the metal wires from Kurizu's trap, so he couldn't move to get a look at him.

"The... Bariagan?" Kurizu groaned as he dropped onto his knees. The green had already begin to fade from his eyes.

Amane watched with surprise. Any normal viewer probably wouldn't have been able to follow the match the entire time. They wouldn't have understood that Ichiro had first poisoned Kurizu, then he had practically possessed Kurizu, probably tried to make him forfeit the match, and then that he had been somehow forced out of Kurizu's body. Amane had understood what had gone on and she knew that Kurizu had gotten extremely lucky.

Kurizu's body had been put under a lot of strain from Ichiro's poisoned senbon and Kurizu's mind had been put under a lot of strain from Ichiro's _Shintenshin no Jutsu. _These two combined factors had caused Kurizu's Kekkei Genkai, the Bariagan, to activate for the first time.

There are several types of visual Kekkei Genkai, such as the Sharingan, Byakugan, and Rinnegan. Unlike these three, the Bariagan is only a visual Kekkei Genkai because it turns the eyes green, solely to indicate that it is active. While the Bariagan is active, it sets up a defense mechanism for the user. Whenever the user is hit with an attack while the Bariagan is active, the defense mechanism will force the users chakra to momentarily exert from their body instantaneously, causing the attack to be redirected. Apparently, it could also cancel a Yamanaka's _Shintenshin no Jutsu, _probably by expelling the unwelcome spirit from the body with the chakra that gets exerted. Either way, there is a drawback to this jutsu. When the technique is used, the user loses a great deal of their chakra for a small amount of time. The Bariagan draws the chakra back into the body slowly, so using a jutsu during the time when most of the chakra is still outside of the body could be dangerous. As the user gets stronger and stronger, the technique will require less and less chakra to activate and provide the same effect.

Amane decided that now would be the best time to cut this match short. It was a double knockout, with Kurizu immobilized by the poison in his body and Ichiro immobilized by Kurizu's trap. Both of the students had fought in a very intelligent and clever manner. They had managed to put the other in a situation where they could no longer fight. They would both lose the match, but they would also both pass the Physical Exam.

"Neither participant wins the fight, but both participants successfully passed the Physical Exam." Amane announced, the rest of the class cheering. For two Academy Students who had no Ninjutsu other than what had been passed down to them by their clan, the fight managed to draw their classmates' attention. "Medics! Please move Kurizu and Ichiro out of here and treat them." The medics went up onto the arena and moved Kurizu and Ichiro out of the classroom on stretchers.

4

Keiji and Yasuo were both sitting at their seats. They were pretty surprised by the fact that Kurizu had lost the fight in a double knockout, but they were relieved by the fact that Kurizu had passed the Physical Exam. There was only one match left now, meaning that there were only two Academy Students who had yet to fight. Keiji Jakunen and Midori Sarutobi were the two remaining Academy Students.

Midori Sarutobi was a special case. Back during the time of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha defeated Tobi and the Juubi. The Juubi was basically a combination of the nine Bijuu. The Juubi that Tobi had summoned was incomplete, as he had only been able to capture a portion of the Hachibi's and the Kyuubi's chakra. When Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha had taken down this behemoth, the ten tails that the Juubi had returned back to the forms of their respective Bijuu, seven of the ten tails becoming the seven captured Bijuu. The eighth and ninth tails simply became chakra and returned to the two Bijuu that had not been captured. After this had happened, the Kyuubi and the Hachibi had been returned to their respective villages. The other seven Bijuu were divided among the nations, the Hidden Leaf excluded since they had the most powerful one in their possession.

Due to Naruto gaining the trust of the Bijuu, creating Jinchuuriki was no longer such a gamble. Bijuu grew to give humans more of a chance before immediately judging them to be horrible creatures. Because of this, any person could be a suitable host for a Bijuu so there was no longer a risk to creating a Jinchuuriki. Midori Sarutobi was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki of this time. As of this moment, she has not yet made contact with the Kyuubi, but she still knows what she is. Keiji also knows what she is.

Keiji had never been able to witness a Jinchuuriki in action, but he had been told rumors and stories about them. They supposedly had these demons sealed inside of them and the Jinchuuriki had access to the demon's chakra and abilities. Jinchuuriki were supposedly extremely powerful. Midori didn't seem it, though.

Midori was slightly short for her age, which was twelve, and had long dark brown hair. Her eyes were a deep hazel color and she had odd whisker-like markings on her cheeks, probably due to the fact that she was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The Jinchuuriki was a nice girl. She seemed to care more about others than herself and she even went out of her way to help other people. Little did Keiji know, she was not this way in a fight, but he would find that out soon enough. Keiji didn't see how she could possibly have a demon sealed inside of her.

"Either way, I'm not holding back, even if I am going up against a girl." Keiji said as he reached down into his bag. He pulled out the black case again. This time he kept it out, putting it on his lap instead of back in the bag. As he was taking out the case, Keiji noticed Yasuo shaking his head at him from the corner of his eye. "What is it?"

"She's going to be too much for you." Yasuo said, closing his eyes now. Keiji was preparing to see Yasuo break into jocular laughter. His eyes narrowed when Yasuo didn't even utter a single chuckle. He was entirely serious about what he had just said. Was it because Midori was a Jinchuuriki? It couldn't be. Yasuo wouldn't know what it's like to fight a Jinchuuriki.

"Why do you say that?"

"You know how she fights. You'll end up getting confused."

"You could at least have a little faith in me."

"You could just try to prove me wrong."

Keiji looked at Yasuo, whose eyes were still closed. Keiji understood just what Yasuo was trying to do and decided to play into this. It could only be beneficial to do so.

"Deal. I'll kick her ass and I'll show you just how awesome I am!"

Before Yasuo could have the chance to say anything in response, if he even intended to do so, Amane spoke up.

"For the last match... Midori Sarutobi and Keiji Jakunen." Amane announced.

Keiji stood up and opened the black case. Inside of it was a kusarigama, or a chain-sickle. The curved blade was a very light silver and the handle of the sickle was made of a glossy black material which resembled onyx. Carved into the handle was 半月, or _Hangetsu, _which meant _Half Moon. _The chain which was connected to the base of the sickle's handle was a dark gray. This weapon was a gift from his father and Keiji had been training to use it every day for the past four months.

Keiji and Midori made their way down to the platform. They stood on opposite ends of the arena facing each other. Midori didn't say anything to him, so Keiji didn't say anything either. He wanted nothing more than to win this fight.

"Whenever you're ready, you may begin."

Midori made fast hand seals. They were hand seals which Keiji was able to immediately recognize, which led him to realize why Yasuo told him that this girl would essentially be too much for him to handle.

"_Bunshin no Jutsu!" _Midori exclaimed, numerous illusory clones appearing in the spaces surrounding her. The clones looked exactly like Midori and there were at least fifteen of them moving around on the arena in front of Keiji.

Keiji started to spin Hangetsu, holding the end of the chain in his left hand and holding the opposite end of the chain, a few inches below the handle of the sickle, in his right hand. It was difficult to tell which one of these Midori clones was the real one. If there had been grass, the clones wouldn't be parting any of the grass where they stood. That would have made it easy to tell which ones were the clones and which one wasn't. They were on a solid floor. The best that he could do was try to see which one kicks up dust if and when they decide to charge him, but that would never work.

It wasn't even getting injured by the clones that he was worried about. Clones created through the Bunshin no Jutsu cannot physically harm anything, but they can create openings for the real person to take advantage of. They're just illusions, so charging in and attacking them was a hopeless idea. In all honesty, it was all Keiji could do at this point in time. What would be very good was if he could find the real Midori and mark her somehow, with a cut or something.

Keiji let out a deep sigh as he stopped swinging the sickle, grabbing it by the handle instead. He sprinted forward and headed towards the scattered mass of clones before him. He plunged the sickle directly into the chest of one potential Midori clone on his right as he passed her, but the blade passed through her with no resistance. Slashing at clone after clone, Keiji started to wonder why they were just standing there like lifeless idiots.

_**They're just a distraction. That's why. She knew that I would charge in and start attacking the clones, so she didn't even bother to have them pretend to attack me. That must mean that she's going to try to attack me on her own... I just have to... **_Keiji thought as he immediately stopped pointlessly attacking the clones. If he was right about Midori's plan, then she would be the only one moving. She would be trying to get close to him while he was distracted by the clones.

Keiji turned to his left and only saw copies of Midori standing around. The view was the same to his front and to his right. When he looked behind him, he saw Midori sprinting towards him. Keiji smirked and readied his kusarigama. When Midori was only a few feet away from him, Keiji held the chain out diagonally in front of him at the precise moment when Midori launched her own punch. Normally, the fist would have rebounded off of the chain, throwing Midori off balance, and leaving her open to one of Keiji's attacks. Instead, her fist passed right through the chain and stopped right in front of Keiji's face. Mere moments after this confusing incident, Keiji felt an elbow connect with the right side of his head. The attack sent him onto the floor with a groan.

"How stupid do you think I am?" Midori asked, speaking her first words of the entire match. "Did you think I wouldn't notice you as you stopped attacking the clones? That made it obvious that you realized my intentions and that you would start looking for me. I stopped moving and had a clone charge at you. You fell for it so easily."

Ignoring Midori was easy enough when Keiji focused on the pain in his head. He had made an idiotic mistake and this was the price for it. The way this girl was using the clones to her advantage... the absolutely clever and intelligent way she was using the clones was aggravating Keiji. If he had a large scale jutsu, he could hit all of the clones _and _Midori. If he had the kind of chakra that Midori had, he would make an equivalent amount of clones.

Looking around, Keiji could tell that Midori had managed to blend back in with the mass of clones. When all of the clones started to run towards him, Keiji cursed under his breath and just braced himself. Attacking against this would be a stupid idea. Defense was the only option.

The onslaught of mostly illusive attacks began. The first punch passed through his chest, the second punch passed through his shoulder, but the third punch connected with his face. This kept going on for ten minutes. It seemed as though every third attack made contact with some part of Keiji's body but even with this information, there were so many attacks going on and there were so many copies of Midori surrounding him, he couldn't do anything about this situation.

_**She's going to be too much for you... You'll just end up getting confused...**_

Keiji heard this voice within his head. It was Yasuo's voice, sounding all distorted and mocking. He could picture Yasuo sneering as he said it and that infuriated Keiji.

"He's right, though... He was right..." Keiji mumbled before being punched again by Midori. Blood was now dripping down several open wounds all over his face. He was gripping the handle of his weapon tightly. The pain was pretty bad, but the humiliation was worse. He had to win this fight. He couldn't allow himself to lose after just promising to prove Yasuo wrong.

Holding his weapon so the blade was facing away from his body, Keiji gripped onto the handle with both hands and slashed at one Midori clone, extending the slash into one circular motion by pivoting to his right and doing a 360 degree turn. By doing this, Keiji had been able to quickly cut through every single clone of Midori, as well as the real one. She was probably the fourth figure that he had managed to cut through with the sickle. He could see her as she realized what he was about to do. He could see her as she tried to turn and run. He could hear her cry out as the blade carved a deep cut into her forearm.

This was perfect. Keiji had now marked Midori, so picking her out from the other clones would no longer be a problem. Midori was retreating now, grasping onto her bleeding arm with her uninjured hand. The blood dripped down onto the floor through her now bloody fingers which had tried to block off the wound.

Keiji had to take this opportunity to attack. Now ignoring the barely existent punches and kicks from the clones, Keiji charged towards the bleeding, retreating Midori. She was off guard, probably more concerned with getting away from Keiji than she actually was with defending herself. Keiji rammed his shoulder into her body, sending her sprawling onto the floor. At that precise moment, he held Hangetsu to her throat, effectively pinning her to the floor.

"And you lose..." Keiji said, resisting an overwhelming urge to stick out his tongue at the girl who had managed to beat him up so much. That was when Amane stepped in and called the match to an end, announcing that the both Keiji and Midori had passed the Physical Exam.

5

It was a few hours later, after everyone who had been injured during the fights had been treated by the medics, that the actual graduation took place. Everybody was told their combined scores of the first and second parts of the exam. Those who had passed, namely everyone, were given their own forehead protector and they were grouped into squads of three.

The first squad, Squad One, consisted of Azumi Uchiha, Ichiro Yamanaka, Yutaka Rikishi. Squad Two was made up of Koji Inuzuka, Takeo Akimichi, and Midori Sarutobi. Squad Three had Kurizu Shimizu, Yasuo Arai, and Keiji Jakunen in it. Squad Four was made up of the remaining new Genin, Hisao Hyuuga, Kurou Aburame, and Kazumi Nara.

The following day, Squads One to Four would be required to meet up with their new sensei's in meeting areas. Amane told each squad to which meeting area they were to report before letting them out for the day.


	2. Chapter Two

[Here is Chapter Two. My chapters will probably be around this length, mainly because I don't want the story to be annoying to read, due to the length. Also, I'd appreciate some reviews, so I can know whether my story sucks or not. xD Anyway, enjoy~]

Chapter Two

1

The next morning, Keiji awoke early enough to do some training with his dad. Keiji wore his new forehead protector along with his favorite outfit, which consisted of a white long sleeved shirt with a black and white jacket worn over it, a pair of black pants, and the blue sandals. His father was a Jonin and specialized in Suiton techniques so he took it upon himself to personally see to his son's training. Keiji didn't think that it would be a bad idea to try to follow in his father's footsteps, to an extent. He understood that his dad was a good shinobi, but Keiji wanted to carve out a style that was his own. Keiji had a Water chakra nature, just like his father, but he wanted something to make him different. This was partially the reason why he had even begun training with a kusarigama in the first place.

He didn't know a single other person who used a weapon like Hangetsu as their primary means of fighting. Most people that Keiji knew either relied on Ninjutsu, their fists, or basic weapons like kunai knives and shuriken. Keiji wanted to have a somewhat unique style of fighting, and Hangetsu managed to provide exactly that.

The training with his father was pretty simple. Keiji would attack his more skilled dad with all he had, his dad doing the same in return. Keiji would simply have to hold out as long as he could against his dad's Ninjutsu all while trying to land attacks of his own. To date, Keiji has yet to land a single hit on his father.

After the training was finished, it was time for Keiji to report to Squad Three's meeting area. He was to meet up with his squad and, more importantly, his sensei. After knowing Kurizu and Yasuo for years, the only actual important part of this meeting was finding out who his sensei was. Amane had told Keiji, Kurizu, and Yasuo that their meeting place would be out by the village gates so that was where Keiji was headed. It took him about twenty minutes to run and building-hop his way to the other side of the village, where the ridiculously massive gates were located. About thirty feet before one would reach the actual gates, there was a tree hanging over a small wooden fence located to the left of the path that led towards the gates. Underneath that tree and leaning against the fence was a bench. Keiji found Kurizu and Yasuo sitting on this bench, an unnamed third person standing before them with his hands in his pockets.

From the building that Keiji was standing on top of, he could see just about everything worth seeing in the village. He could see the massive gates that led out of the village. They were closed for some reason, which was odd since they were usually left open.

Behind him, in the distance, Keiji could even make out the giant stone faces of the former Hokages carved into a massive rock wall. About five more faces had been added onto the wall since the time of Naruto Uzumaki. One of the faces was very familiar to Keiji.

Directly underneath the stone faces was a huge red mansion where the current Hokage typically resided and did their work. In the past, there was access to the roof of the mansion. Funerals were often held at the roof of the Hokage's mansion, but now a large statue of Naruto Uzumaki had been erected on top of the roof and a large statue of Sasuke Uchiha had been put up right next to it. Statues of the two village heroes now took up the space on the roof of the mansion and nobody was allowed access to the top of the mansion in order to prevent damage from being done to them.

From the top of the building on which Keiji stood, he noticed the other three, so he leaped down and landed on the ground with a casual ease. The landing hadn't made too much noise, so Kurizu and Yasuo had only noticed him when he started to walk up to them.

"Sorry I'm late, guys." Keiji said with a wave, walking over to the only empty seat on the bench. The person who was standing in front of the bench was probably their sensei. The fact that he had been standing up while there was an empty seat at the bench suggested that he hadn't been considering sitting down, which meant that the seat was either for Keiji or for some other surprise guest.

Neither Kurizu or Yasuo replied with anything more than a nod. Their attention was mostly focused on the man who was presumably their sensei. This man had slick black hair with eyes of the same color. He had a pale complexion and scar below his lower lip.

"You're Keiji Jakunen, I'm assuming?" the man asked, his eyes going over the white haired boy carefully. Reading him. That's what the eyes were doing. They were reading Keiji for anything that would provide insight into his personality. The lateness was one thing that had been taken into account.

"The one and only." Keiji said, grinning. The man returned Keiji's grin with a smile of his own, yet Keiji could tell that the smile was forced. This man was strange.

"Well. Now that we're all here, we can finally introduce ourselves. I'll start." the man said. "My name is Takeshi. I am a Jonin of the Hidden Leaf tasked with overseeing your development. I want each of you three to state your name, things that you like, things that you dislike, and your goals."

_**This guy sounds too professional... Just by the way he talks, I know there's something wrong with him. I just can't figure out what it is... **_Keiji thought with a frown. He didn't like the fact that there was something strange going on as soon as he became a Genin. Even more so, he didn't like that he was able to notice it right away. It was unsettling.

"I'll start." Yasuo said, seeming oddly eager. "My name is Yasuo Arai. I like competitions of any kind and I also like to read. I like to eat sweet foods and and I enjoy watching the sky at night. Things that I don't like include arrogance and stupidity. My goals... I want to be strong enough to defeat anyone who challenges me. I... I just want to be able to defend myself against _anything._"

_**He's power hungry, but not out of greed. He was probably hurt in some severe way in the past, to the point where it scarred him emotionally, so he probably tries to acquire power in order to keep anything like **__**that from happening again. He has a need to prove his strength to others probably because his strength has been undermined in the past. I bet it's tied to the incident which may have emotionally scarred him, if such an incident even exists. **_Takeshi thought, his gaze moving from Yasuo to Kurizu.

Kurizu assumed that it was his turn to speak. "My name's Kurizu Shimizu, of the Shimizu clan. I like watching other shinobi fight, mostly the more experienced ones, because it gets me excited. Seeing other people use flashy and awesome techniques... It's awesome and it makes me want to become strong like them. Dislikes... I don't like people who antagonize others or who instigate problems... I also don't like seeing innocent people get hurt. My goal is to find something that I could be good at! I don't think I'd make a good straight up fighter, so I want to find some other way to contribute and make myself useful."

_**He wants to be strong and useful, but doesn't have the natural talent to achieve either. He has the **__**motivation and the brains to try to search for a different road on which he could achieve usefulness. I'll have **__**to observe his strong points at some point and help him find the road that is the most suited for him. **_Takeshi thought, now looking over to Keiji.

At first, Keiji simply sat there unsure of whether it was his turn to speak or not. When he realized that, after a minute of silence, the three others were looking at him, he started. "I'm Keiji Jakunen, master of the kusarigama and the water element! Everywhere I go, people quake in fear of the mere mentioning of my name. I cut down all villains with my sickle, not even having to use a single jutsu! I like to beat up enemies and save innocents from their terror. I hate nothing, because true heroes have no hate in their hearts. My goal is to eradicate all things evil."

Yasuo and Kurizu both burst out into laughter as Keiji, all on his own, managed to turn a serious discussion into a joke. Takeshi was not amused, but that didn't stop Kurizu and Yasuo from laughing.

_**This one is an idiot. He deflects things that are either personal or serious with jokes and humor. He's an idiot, and that's all it comes down to. I have a feeling that he'll be the most troublesome one out of all three of these Genin. **_Takeshi thought with a sigh.

_**I knew it. He didn't even break a smile. This guy is weird on **__every __**level. **_Keiji thought, his mouth now in the form of a frown.

"Anyway... We're going to get started right away." Takeshi said, signaling for the three Genin to rise from their bench seats. They did as they were wordlessly told to and stood up. "I already received a decent D-Ranked mission for us to take care of. It's simple enough for new Genin to take on."

In the past, new Genin would be further tested, after being put into squads, by their sensei. The Fourth Hokage's renowned bell test was an example of this. The purpose of these tests was to see who was qualified to even be shinobi. The Physical Exam of the Graduation Exam took the place of the secondary post-graduation testing.

Takeshi started to walk away from the group, heading in the direction opposite the large gates. Keiji, Kurizu, and Yasuo followed behind him, not entirely sure of what to expect.

"The request was made by the Inuzuka clan, as a whole. Apparently, about fifteen of their hounds escaped a few hours ago. According to the clan, the hounds shouldn't have left the village on their own, due to some precaution devised by the Inuzuka clan that I am personally unfamiliar with. They should be scattered around the village. The gates to the village are closed, as you should have noticed, in to ensure that the hounds remain in the village." Takeshi explained to the trio behind him, not bothering to look to check if they were paying attention. "The hounds are rather small, so they shouldn't provide any physical threat. You're going to split up and search for the hounds, capturing any that you find. Return back to the bench where we just were and bring them to me. I'll keep watch over them, there."

The mission was simple enough. All they had to do was find fifteen hounds around the village and bring them back to their sensei. Sure, the Inuzuka hounds wouldn't be the only dogs in the village, but they should stand out in some way, so it would still be simple enough to find them. That's what Keiji believed, anyway.

"Alright. We've got this, sensei. The three of us will wrap this up quickly." Yasuo said, speaking for the entire group. He looked at Kurizu and Keiji, mostly at Keiji. "Try to be gentle when you're capturing them... We wouldn't want to hurt any of the dogs. The Inuzuka clan might not be too grateful if we did."

Keiji and Kurizu both nodded, Keiji unaware that Yasuo had subtly singled him out as he spoke. At that moment, the trio split up. Kurizu and Yasuo ran in their own different directions as Keiji sighed and simply continued to walk down the road. He had no intentions of exhausting himself while looking for fifteen dogs around this ridiculously enormous village.

2

Even for a skilled shinobi, finding over a dozen small dogs in a large area would be a difficult task. There were so many different places the dogs could be hiding. They could hide behind trees or on top of the trees themselves, in any body of water, inside trash cans, inside of houses or buildings where the doors were conveniently left open. If the dogs had been trained well enough, they could have even gone on top of some buildings.

Keiji first started by asking around to find out if anyone had spotted any of the Inuzuka clan's dogs. He got a bunch of mixed responses from all of the people he had asked. Some people said they spotted a few small dogs running off a few hours ago towards the western side of the village. Other people said that they hadn't seen anything. Some others said that they may have seen something, but couldn't remember. A few people said that a boy wearing a bandana had just asked them the same question not too long ago. Overall, Keiji had made almost no progress, only finding out that the dogs had probably gone to the west.

This was the direction in which Keiji now headed. He ran through the streets of the village, cleanly avoiding all of the people that stood in his way and even hopping over the occasional obstacle. Along the way, Keiji noticed a few signs of minor damage present in some objects. Some trash cans were knocked over, metal light posts had teeth marks on them, and some walls and fences had urine dripping down them. All of this was a sign that Keiji was heading in the right direction.

He had just reached the western side of the village, able to clearly see a part of the giant wall which enclosed the village, when he heard barking coming from down an alley that he had almost completely run past. Keiji quickly headed down the alley, stopping when it opened up at the end to a small, enclosed clearing.

The pack of hounds was at the precise center of the small clearing. There were tipped over trash cans all around the clearing and the scent of urine was overwhelming.

Keiji kept his distance, counting exactly fourteen dogs in total. These were probably the Inuzuka hounds. Either that or there just happened to be another pack of fourteen small hounds around. Most of them had apparently stayed together instead of scattering, which was a good thing. The fact that one of them was missing was not a good thing.

Two things about this situation surprised Keiji. Looking closely at the dogs, Keiji was able to see that the dogs looked as though they were in pain- not just one or two dogs, but all of them looked as if they were hurting. It appeared as if the pain was infuriating them. The dogs looked angry, with their lips drawn back and their teeth revealed. Their eyes had traces of red in them, as if they had a reaction to something they had eaten. The second thing that surprised Keiji was the fact that neither Kurizu nor Yasuo were here, yet.

_**This could get complicated. I know Takeshi-sensei told us that these dogs shouldn't be harmful, but they just look so vicious... I might have to hurt them... **_Keiji thought. _**And where is the other dog..?**_

There was supposed to be fifteen dogs in total. Keiji supposed it was possible that one dog could have gone off in its own direction but since the fourteen others stayed together, he found it to be very unlikely.

Keiji looked more closely at the group of dogs, which appeared to have not noticed him yet. Maybe it was possible that he had made a mistake in counting the dogs. There were three dogs looking at one another, snarling menacingly towards the left of the group. Two dogs near them were swatting at each other with their paws. About four dogs were either sniffing at the ground or chewing something on it. Keiji couldn't get a good look at the ground through the dogs legs, but there definitely appeared to be something there. What Keiji could see was a small furry body and traces of crimson littering its pelt...

With his eyes widening, the realization hit him all at once. All fifteen dogs _were_ present in the group. One of them had been killed by the rest of the group, probably, and they were chewing at its corpse.

"What the hell..." Keiji muttered, starting to feel angry with these dogs. Apparently, they had killed one of their own and were desecrating its corpse. The dead dog was their comrade. Why would they have killed it?

Anger was taking over Keiji's body and he could feel it, too. He didn't like witnessing betrayal and he especially didn't like seeing victimized animals. So many things felt wrong with this day. First, he got this strange feeling about his new sensei. Then these dogs randomly go crazy, run away, and kill one of their own.

Keiji charged in to attack the dogs, having had enough of watching this situation.

3

The fourteen dogs all turned to Keiji once he had gotten close enough for his scent to be distinguished from the smells of dog urine, blood, and trash. They knew that Keiji meant to attack them, so they jumped him before he could get the chance.

The fourteen dogs had scattered and reformed in a circular formation surrounding Keiji. Without even giving him a chance to figure out that they meant to attack him, the dogs simultaneously leaped at him.

Some of the dogs clawed at Keiji's body. Some of them sunk their teeth into his arms and legs. Some clung to his clothing in an attempt to weigh him down. The remaining dogs repeatedly rammed into his gut with their heads. These were ninja hounds. Even if they weren't fully grown, they could still prove to be a threat to anyone stupid enough to blindly attack them.

Keiji suppressed his urges to cry out as the dogs attacked him. He could feel the blood dripping down his limbs and he could hear his clothing beginning to tear where the dogs were clinging. And every five seconds, one of them would slam into his gut with enough force to knock the breath out of him every time.

The pain was constant and it seemed as though it would never end. Pain was bearable, but the thought that the dogs may do to him what they did to their former comrade shook Keiji's confidence. If these dogs decided to kill him, his throat would probably be their target. The pain of having his throat torn out would definitely top the current pain. Keiji had to disable these dogs immediately.

_**How, though? How... can I knock them out if they keep attacking me like this? If only they would... get off for a few seconds, then I could fight back. If only they would... **_Keiji thought, a rage instantaneously consuming his body. He felt a sudden burst of power swell up inside of his body and released it as he spoke his next words.

_**"...GET OFF!'' **_Keiji roared.

The scene played out as if a teacher had just blown a whistle or rung a bell or produced a loud noise in an attempt to quiet down their chattering class. The growls and snarls from the dogs ceased almost immediately in response to Keiji's roar. The entire area seemed impossibly quiet afterward. The dogs proceeded to release their jaws from Keiji's limbs and their claws from Keiji's clothing and they backed away, their ears low to indicate a fear of the boy.

Without even thinking to question what had happened, Keiji reached back into the beige pouch on his waist and pulled out metal wire. He used the metal wire to tie up the infuriated, yet passive and fearful hounds. When they were all tied up, Keiji looked over to the lone dead dog. Its body looked like that of a puppet, regarding the lifeless and inanimate nature of puppets.

There was definitely something wrong with these dogs. The answer could potentially lie within the body of the dead one. They could have all been drugged, or something along those lines. He would bring it back to Takeshi-sensei once Kurizu and Yasuo showed up here. It shouldn't take long for them to find this place, especially since Keiji had managed to find it.

Keiji walked over to one of the walls which enclosed this alley. He leaned his back against it and slid down into a seated position. Every single cut and bite on his body stung with every movement that he made. His own blood now stained his torn clothing. His black and white jacket had sustained the most damage. He had expected it to get dirty, but the sleeves were now nearly torn off and blood had stained the jacket from the inside. It was irreparable.

"I couldn't even beat a bunch of dogs..." Keiji mumbled, his left hand moving along his right sleeve. He moved quickly from being down over the jacket to being down over the most recent turn of events. The dogs had overwhelmed him and probably would have beaten him had they not gotten afraid of him yelling. It was a disheartening realization. His hand found the middle of the sleeve, where ones elbow would be. There was a large tear there, the halves remaining connected only by a few strands. Grabbing onto the lower half of the damaged sleeve, Keiji tore it off in one quick motion. "What kind of a shinobi can't even beat a bunch of dogs...?" Keiji now tore the other damaged sleeve off, appearing to be in a kind of daze.

4

Kurizu and Yasuo had met up just as Keiji spotted the hounds. They weren't able to find any of the dogs so they met up back by Takeshi to share information. The information that was shared between the two Genin was minimal and unhelpful. Yasuo had asked the villagers if they had seen the dogs, just like Keiji had, and he had gotten information that the dogs may have traveled to the west side of the village, just like Keiji had. He had headed over in that direction, towards the west, but completely bypassed the tells of a dogs presence which had caught Keiji's attention. Yasuo wound up running right past the alley where the dogs were and lost hope shortly after being unable to find them.

Kurizu had been in the process of searching for the hounds and was about to ask around for information, just as the other two had, before an attractive girl walked into his sights. The girl retained his attention for a good five minutes before Kurizu built up the nerve to talk to her, and it was at that point when the mission lost its meaning for him. This was as far as Kurizu had gotten into his story before Yasuo punched him in the shoulder.

The two Genin were about to begin arguing about how Kurizu had wasted their time when they heard Keiji roar the words _"Get off." _Not only did they hear the voice, but they somehow felt it, too. The voice sent a shiver down both of their spines, as if it was laced with a sinister vibe. They didn't know how they knew it was Keiji, either. For all they knew, it could have been some random person shouting at the top of their lungs. They doubted it, though. The feeling that the both of them had gotten from the voice told them that it belonged to Keiji.

Without looking to their sensei, who was also worried about the voice for a different reason, Kurizu and Yasuo sprinted towards the source of the voice. It had come from the western part of the village, so they had some lead to go on as to where Keiji was. When they had reached the alley from which Keiji's voice had come, they saw him seated with his back against one of the walls.

Kurizu noticed that Keiji was covered in a bunch of small wounds, just under half of which had been bleeding, and that his jacket's sleeves were torn off. The wounds had apparently been minor enough for the bleeding to stop on its own. In the corner of his eye, Kurizu could notice the fourteen hounds that had been restrained with wire. They looked terrified. He could see a dead dog in the center of the clearing, too.

Kurizu headed over to Keiji to check and see if he was alright. Yasuo went over to the hounds to make sure that they had actually belonged to the Inuzuka clan, and to make sure that they were unharmed and all accountable. Yasuo counted fourteen dogs and a dead fifteenth dog which was located more towards the center of the alley clearing.

_**Did Keiji kill that one..? **_Yasuo thought, his eyes narrowing towards Keiji. They returned to the dog soon enough in an attempt to examine it. The dogs throat had been where the killing strike had apparently been made, as it looked as though that was where most of the bleeding occurred. Something could have bitten into the throat and tore it out, and unless Keiji suddenly went feral then it couldn't have been him. _**His voice, earlier, though... It definitely sounded like he could have-**_

The other dogs could have also been the culprits. It's possible that they may have, for some reason or another, killed the dog. It was unlikely, but possible. Hell, some _other _animal could even exist inside of the village and may have killed the dog. The best thing would be to get Takeshi to examine the body. He was probably more experienced with this kind of thing and he would be able to explain what had killed the dog.

Kurizu was crouched down beside Keiji questioning him, starting with a typical _"Are you alright_." Keiji appeared to be in a daze. He answered the questions that Kurizu had asked him adequately enough, but his response time was delayed. It was as if he had to take a few extra seconds to process what he had been asked.

When Kurizu asked Keiji what happened, Keiji simply said that he found the dogs and was too weak to restrain them on his own. When asked about how the fifteenth dog died, Keiji said that the dogs were crazy and probably drugged. Kurizu wanted to ask Keiji how he restrained the dogs if he was too weak to do so but decided to skip over that one.

_**There's definitely something wrong with him. He has bite marks all over his body. If the dogs are drugged, as he said, then maybe some of the drug got into his system and is having this effect on him... **_Kurizu thought. He didn't entirely believe this theory. The dogs couldn't have transferred _that _much of the supposed drug into Keiji simply by biting him, if they could even transfer it by that means, even if all of them had done it at the same time. Then again, if only a little bit of the drug had been moved into Keiji's body, it could have just had a much lesser effect on him. The subject was too complicated for Kurizu to fully grasp. _**Besides... I bet he would have had to get the blood of one of them inside of him for the drug to be transferred over to him. Unless they had their own blood on their teeth, it couldn't work.**_

Kurizu then remembered that one of the dogs _were _dead. If the dogs had been drugged and put into a crazed state, they may have been insane enough to kill one of their own. If they killed one of their own, its likely that they could still have traces of its blood on their teeth which, when they bit down on Keiji, could have been moved into Keiji's own blood. The drug inside of Keiji's body may have been enough to make Keiji go crazy for a single moment and let out that roar from before, which may have rendered the dogs passive and fearful. It was all speculation and he had no idea if the dogs were actually drugged in the first place. If Keiji knew what he was talking about, however, then this could be a possible theory. A reaction to a drug would best explain this current state that Keiji was in, too.

Takeshi had followed behind the two boys and just now walked into the clearing. He made all of the same observations that the other two had made, starting off by walking over to the group of restrained dogs, moving to the dead dog in the center of the clearing, and then going over to Keiji. Takeshi asked Kurizu about his observations of Keiji and Kurizu told him exactly what had gone through his mind moments ago. After checking out the situation, he took control of it quickly enough.

"Kurizu. I want you to take Keiji home. He isn't going to be of much use to us while he's in that state. While you escort him home, Yasuo and I will try to figure out exactly what went down here. I'll observe the body of the dead dog for any traces of any kind of drug that may be in its blood but until anything is found, we are to assume that Keiji killed it." Takeshi said with a deep sigh. Both Kurizu and Yasuo were about to protest Takeshi's deduction, but the look in his eyes told them that it would not be a good idea. "After you bring Keiji home, come right back here. We'll decide what to do about the situation then."

_**The Inuzuka clan had said that these dogs wouldn't be harmful, too. Either they lied about it or they didn't know, which just suggests the use of a drug even more. Keiji may have instigated a conflict, though, and dogs may have attacked him out of defense. Until a drug is found, that is the best theory. **_Takeshi thought.

Takeshi looked over to Yasuo and Kurizu. Kurizu had already begun to stand Keiji up, his resistance only coming from an apparent lack of will rather than a lack of stamina. Yasuo appeared to be observing the dog's corpse from a distance. It wouldn't do him any good. He was too far and too inexperienced to make any useful observations.

Sighing once again, Takeshi headed over to the dog's corpse. All he needed to do was observe the blood. If there was a drug inside of the dog and if it was transferred into Keiji through the blood, then the drug would have to be in the blood itself.

By now, Kurizu had left the alley with Keiji. Those two were not suited for a situation like this. Takeshi could tell that Yasuo would be the most useful to him, at this moment. Kurizu would probably be standing around unsure of what to do and Keiji was borderline incapacitated. It was best to temporarily get rid of them.

Takeshi crouched down in front of the dog's body and held his hand over the small pool of blood which had leaked out beneath the dog. A green chakra energy resonated from his hand as Takeshi held it over the blood. He slowly moved his glowing hand from one area of the blood to the next, making sure to have gotten over every point. As he moved his hand over the blood, small particles seemed to be drawn out of it to the green chakra like metal shards to a magnet. This was a medical technique that was used to draw impurities out of the blood. It was impossible to use this technique to remove every single impurity from the blood, but it was useful when trying to create an antidote to a poison or when trying to determine what impurities the blood contained. You could use this technique to obtain a sample of the poison from the bloodstream, using the poison sample to create an antidote later. This technique could also be useful for determining whether or not a drug was present inside of the blood.

When he felt as though he had removed enough from the blood, Takeshi took a small vial out of the beige pouch on the back of his waist with his free hand. He removed the lid of the vial with two of his fingers and held his other hand over the vial. Doing everything with extreme care and precision, Takeshi dropped the samples into the vial by releasing the jutsu he had used to obtain the them. He put the lid back on the vial, putting the vial itself back into the pouch.

Yasuo watched the process carefully, noticing the bunch of black specks that had been removed from the blood and placed into the vial. He knew that this didn't mean that the dogs were drugged, for sure, but it definitely meant that there was a possibility. They wouldn't know if there was a drug or not until Takeshi observes it, which can't exactly be done on the spot.

"Now, Yasuo." Takeshi said, turning to the Genin. "Tell me what you think went down, here."

Yasuo nodded and thought over everything that he noticed upon arriving here. He had overheard Kurizu telling Takeshi about the possibility of the dogs being drugged and took this into consideration, as well. "Keiji probably showed up here and noticed the dogs. I know him well enough to say that he wouldn't attack animals without a good reason, especially since these dogs are pretty small. He may seem to be an idiot, but he has morals and one of them is that you don't attack something that is drastically weaker than you without provocation. Another one is that you don't betray your comrades. I'm sure Keiji would consider these dogs to be weaker than him, at first glance. Anyway... he probably noticed the dogs all in a group. The dogs probably attacked him when they realized that Keiji was there."

"Keiji isn't the best fighter, especially not against multiple opponents." Yasuo said this while mentally noting Keiji's fight against Midori as a reference. "If these dogs had undergone some kind of training by the Inuzuka clan and if their skills were enhanced by some kind of drug, they could have potentially overwhelmed Keiji. I believe that the dogs killed one of their own before Keiji arrived. If there was a drug in the dog's blood, then it would also be present on the bloodied teeth of the dogs. If the dogs bit down hard enough on Keiji's body to create an open wound, the drug could have been transferred into Keiji."

"I know that it would take a larger dose for the drug to have the same effect on Keiji as it had on the dogs. I don't think it had the same effect. I think that enough of the drug was... injected into Keiji to create a momentary vicious reaction. Keiji probably did _something _to make the dogs realize that he is superior to them, making them back down out of fear." Yasuo had noticed that the dogs looked terrified as soon as he went to observe them. This was the basis for his aforementioned assumption. "Keiji then probably tied them up and started to suffer some kind of side effect from the drug, causing him to enter that kind of passive state."

After Yasuo had finished speaking, he began to feel nervous. He didn't realize how farfetched the idea sounded until after he had explained it.

Takeshi's eyes were closed as he thought over what Yasuo had said. He was thoroughly impressed by Yasuo's theory, even though it was biased and mostly speculation. If Takeshi didn't believe that Keiji may have been the instigator in this incident, this was probably the second theory that he, himself, would have made.

"Alright. I'm going to head out. I'll report these findings to the Hokage. I want you to wait here for Kurizu to return, and when he does I want the both of you to keep watch on these dogs. Specifically, I want you to keep making observations and tell me if you see any changes in the dogs at all. I'll try to return within an hour." Takeshi said before he made a hand seal and disappeared in a small cloud of smoke.

Yasuo did as he was told and waited by the dogs for his teammate to return.


	3. Chapter Three

[Well. Here's Chapter Three. Keiji is beginning to display some strange signs in this one. The next Chapter will be out in a week and a half, and it will be an interesting one~]

Chapter Three

1

Keiji woke up the following day finding himself in his own bed. He remembered just about everything that happened the previous day, in regards to the mission involving the runaway Inuzuka dogs. He remembered Kurizu bringing him back home on Takeshi's orders and he also remembered passing out as soon as he made contact with his bed.

The jacket that had gotten ruined yesterday, as well as the shirt which he wore underneath it, were gone. Someone probably removed them so they could disinfect his cuts and bites, which they seem to have done. The injuries were showing signs of healing, as well as having been cleaned. Keiji still had on the pants from yesterday. Considering how most of the assault had been done on his torso, arms, back, and feet, there was no need for them to invade his privacy and change his pants.

None of this really mattered to Keiji. His dad had probably been the one to take care of Keiji's wounds, considering how only first aid seemed to have been done. A medic could have healed the cuts with a simple jutsu, if they wanted to.

Keiji sat up on his bed and immediately felt a pain in his head. He groaned as the pain grew more intense in his head and shut his eyes tightly when it started to move down to his chest. The pain existed in his chest for a few moments before dying out. During those moments, Keiji felt strange. It was almost as though he was experiencing the pain outside of his body. He had felt extremely dislocated. It was a strange feeling, and Keiji just shrugged it off. It was probably just a physical reaction to everything that had happened yesterday.

After the pain had fully subsided, Keiji swung his legs off of the bed and allowed his feet to touch the floor. He looked around his room. His room was somewhat small. There was enough space to fit a single bed, a dresser, and a small table. The little table, which was only big enough to fit a lamp and an alarm clock, was beside the head of the bed. The bed had been set up alongside the wall directly across from the door. The dresser had been placed along the wall next to the foot of the bed. Keiji had a few posters hanging on the walls in his room. The one thing that Keiji was concerned about was whether his dad had touched anything in his room. Only his alarm clock had been moved, which wasn't that concerning.

Usually, Keiji had the clock set up so it was perfectly aligned with the base of the lamp which was behind it. When it was set up like this, the face of the clock would be staring directly at the dresser across from it. He could make out the time of the clock, but the fact that it looked perfect was all that mattered. The way it currently was, the clock was facing the bed so Keiji would be able to look to his right and see the time more easily. Keiji wouldn't be surprised if his dad had done this out of some fatherly instinct, or something.

Taking a closer look at the clock, Keiji noticed that an alarm had been set. There were the larger digital characters, which said 9:03 AM. They took up most of the face of the rectangular clock and symbolized the current time. In the top-right corner of the clock, there was a much smaller set of numbers. These numbers said 11:00 AM. The smaller numbers, when they were present on the face of the clock, meant that an alarm had been set for the current day for the specified time. So, these numbers meant that someone had set an alarm to go off in about two hours.

Keiji certainly didn't remember setting any alarm for today, so it was probably his dad's doing. Apparently, something was going on at 11:00 AM that Keiji's dad wanted him awake for.

Letting out a sigh, the white haired boy stood up. There was no pain this time. There wasn't even any dizziness. This was odd considering the pain he had experienced mere moments ago. Keiji shrugged this off just like he had the pain from before and moved over to the dresser. He took a change of clothes from out of the dresser and walked out of his room, heading into the bathroom. He took a shower and got changed into his new clothes. A simple black t-shirt with an equally black pair of pants was what he wore, now.

After getting changed into these clothes, Keiji went back into his room. After dropping the clothes from yesterday onto the floor, assuring himself that he would worry about them later, Keiji pulled a different jacket from out of the bottom drawer of his dresser. This jacket was purple and had a black design on the back. The design was simple. It made it look as though something with ridiculous claws had slashed at the back of it, the slashes going diagonally from the right shoulder and down to the bottom left of the jacket. By the time Keiji had finished with all of this, the clock read 9:54 AM.

"I guess I'll just go downstairs. I don't feel like passing another hour." Keiji said with a yawn, leaving his room once more. He made a right upon exiting the room and walked down the short hallway in which his room resided. At the end of the hallway, he made another right and started down the staircase which was no more than a few steps ahead of him. Once he was at the base of the staircase, Keiji headed directly for the kitchen.

When Keiji walked into the kitchen, he found his dad sitting at the table. He wasn't eating anything or drinking anything. His dad wasn't even reading a book at the table, or anything. It looked as though he had been waiting for something.

_**I wouldn't be surprised if he was waiting for me, knowing that I would wake up early... **_Keiji thought with a shudder. He looked up to his father and recognized his abilities as a shinobi. In Keiji's eyes, his dad was good enough to deduce that Keiji would wake up early, notice that his clock's placement was slightly off, and that he would come downstairs earlier than the suggested time.

Keiji bore a slight resemblance to his father, Kohaku Jakunen. Apparently, he had inherited the natural silvery-white hair from his father. His dad, unlike Keiji, had his hair tied back into a mini ponytail. His eyes were a darker shade of blue than Keiji's. Unlike Keiji, his father was not short and stood at a height of 6'1. Keiji's father was slightly pale, too, also unlike Keiji himself.

"Good. You're still as predictable as ever, son." Kohaku said with a brief laugh. The laugh ended as quickly as it had begun and a more serious nature seemed to overtake the man. He stood up and walked over to Keiji, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Your friend, Kurizu was it? He stopped by last night and explained to me what had happened involving your mission yesterday. It was mostly opinionated. Tell me what happened, from your perspective."

The mentioning of the mission stung Keiji a bit as he flinched slightly when his father brought it up. Keiji had avoided thinking about it since he had woken up. The mission would probably be considered a failure, since one of the hounds had been killed in the process of finding them.

"We were supposed to find a bunch of dogs belonging to the Inuzuka clan..." Keiji began. It was at this point that his father had removed his hand from Keiji's shoulder. "...I found them and saw that one of them were dead. The other dogs were eating the body or just messing it up or something... I got emotional and tried to stop them, but they all attacked me and I couldn't fight back. It's not that I was afraid of hurting them... It's just that there were fourteen of them and I was too weak to fight against so many of them."

Kohaku was well aware of his son's weakness in regards to fighting multiple opponents. In a one on one fight, Keiji would do fine. Kohaku believed that Keiji would be able to overcome any foe in a one on one fight. The thing was, though, that most fights would not be one on one. In a situation where Keiji is fighting against multiple opponents, he would almost always trip up. The boy's problem was that he would focus on one enemy and would unintentionally disregard the others, usually leaving him open to attacks from the enemies which he had ignored. He wasn't able to split his focus very well. Kohaku had even tested this theory using the _Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu _in their little bouts of training_. _He was always able to gain the advantage whenever he increased his numbers, however, this situation had been a bit different.

"You're a new Genin, Keiji. You can't expect to defeat every opponent right away, even if they were ninja hounds. On top of that, there were fourteen opponents. Anyone would have trouble against that many opponents, even if the opponents were weaker than them." Kohaku explained.

Keiji had nodded in response, understanding what his father was saying immediately. He was at an early stage in this life. He wasn't supposed to be powerful, yet. People like Yasuo and Azumi and even Midori, technically, were just exceptions to this rule. There were going to be times when one would lose. It was through these losses, though, that one would find the areas in which they need improvement. Keiji's area of weakness was dividing his attention. He would need to either improve in that area or find a way around the weakness.

"By the way... your friend also told me to tell you that your team is meeting up at eleven. Same place as yesterday, apparently. You should probably leave soon." Kohaku said with with traces of a smirk on his face.

Keiji nodded and turned away from his dad, mentally cursing. Apparently, he had been right about something happening at 11:00. It wasn't something that he had expected, though. His dad had manipulated him. It was that simple. From something as basic as messing with an alarm clock, Keiji had been manipulated by his father. His father must have known that he would wake up early, see the tampered alarm clock, and notice the set alarm. He probably knew everything that Keiji had done after that, too.

_**Clever bastard... **_Keiji thought as he proceeded to head back upstairs. His shinobi essentials were still in his room, namely his kunai holster, pouch, and kusarigama. He would need to get those before he left.

2

It took Keiji twenty minutes to reach the bench by the gates. He left his house at about 10:25, so he got there at about 10:45. He thought that he would have some time to kill, but Kurizu, Yasuo, and Takeshi were already there. Apparently, they liked being early to meetings like this and the one from the day before, too.

Keiji nervously greeted the other three members of his squad before having a seat on the bench again. He didn't make direct eye contact with any of the other three, mainly because he thought that they were all disappointed in him. Kurizu and Yasuo both understood this, having known Keiji for as long as they did, and decided to leave him be. Takeshi decided to start the meeting as soon as Keiji sat down on the bench.

"Alright... I'll start by filling Keiji in on everything that happened after Kurizu took him home yesterday." Takeshi began. Keiji still didn't make eye contact, instead looking directly below Takeshi's face as he spoke. "After the possibility of the dogs being influenced by a drug came up, I took some samples from the deceased dog's blood yesterday. Almost immediately after obtaining the samples, I departed and left Yasuo to keep watch over the hounds to check for any changes in their behavior."

"I left to examine the samples. When I examined them, I found several different kinds of toxins. I found the same toxins in samples of the blood from three other dogs, which I received with the permission of the Inuzuka clan late last night. It is extremely likely that a drug or a poison was used on these dogs to influence their behavior. I had even asked for a few blood samples from some hounds which had not run away yesterday, and there was no trace of the toxins in theirs. I had done this to make sure that it was only the dogs that had gone crazy that had the toxins in their blood."

"I had returned to Yasuo and Kurizu an hour after I left, which was after I had found the initial toxins in the dead dog's blood. Yasuo reported to me that the dogs did seem to gain a more calm behavior after about thirty minutes. It was evident that _something _changed in regards to the dogs, and it is likely that the drug had worn off at that moment. After this was told to me, I sent Yasuo and Kurizu home as I personally brought the fourteen hounds back to the Inuzuka clan. That was when I had requested some blood samples."

Takeshi gave Keiji a few moments to think over everything that he had said, assuming that Keiji was slow on top of being an idiot.

"So they were drugged..." Keiji began.

"...and there's one more thing." Yasuo said, interrupting Keiji with no remorse. "The dogs were apparently gnawing at the body of the dead dog, so we think it's possible that the blood on their teeth, which probably contained some of the drug, got inside of you when they bit you. You got drugged too, during your little clash with the dogs, but only slightly."

"Barely, actually. It's weird, though, because you couldn't have gotten that much of the drug in your blood. It shouldn't have even had an effect on you." Kurizu continued. "Yet, we heard you yell from the other side of the village and it sounded... kinda crazed. Then, when we found you, you were so out of it. It only makes sense that you got drugged, too."

Keiji let all of what he had been told sink in. Everything that they said made some sense.. The dogs had been drugged and some of the drug had gotten inside of him when they bit him. He did remember yelling for the dogs to get off of him, and it had felt like he went berserk for a split second. The drug had made the dogs crazed. Apparently it had the same effect on Keiji, only for a much shorter duration.

"Alright... What are we going to do, then? We have to find whoever drugged the dogs and make him pay!" Keiji exclaimed, clearly more interested in this part than the explanations prior. "Whoever did it messed with a bunch of innocent animals and got one of them killed because of it. We could ask Koji-"

"No." Takeshi said simply, cutting Keiji off completely. "Our mission was simply to locate the dogs and return them to their home. The mission resulted in a failure since we couldn't return every single dog. That's beside the point, though. You three are new Genin. If the Hokage wants the matter looked into, a team of more experienced shinobi will be assembled to do so."

Keiji glared up at Takeshi, making eye contact with him for the first time today. He looked over to Kurizu and then to Yasuo for support, but neither of them gave any. They seemed resigned to agree with their sensei.

"Shinobi follow their orders down to the last detail. Unless the situation calls for it, they don't act on their own. They do not go further than what their mission entails." Takeshi said. He waited a few moments in order to make sure that Keiji had nothing to say in response. Keiji just continued to glare up at Takeshi, evidently not satisfied with this. Once Takeshi was positive that Keiji would not argue this any further, he continued. "The three of you are to take the day off. The mission from yesterday was more stressful than I had anticipated, so we will try to take on another mission tomorrow."

Takeshi left the trio soon after he finished speaking. Kurizu and Yasuo both stood up as soon as their sensei was gone. The two of them exchanged a few quick words before Yasuo looked to Keiji, who was still seated on the bench.

"Sorry, Keiji... We want to go after the guy, too, but we _are _just Genin. We can't go running around chasing after every person that does something bad." Yasuo explained as Keiji got up from the bench. "Anyway... we're gonna go train together. Do you want to come with us?"

"No. I'm just gonna go home." Keiji replied sullenly. He proceeded to walk away from his two teammates, heading in the direction of his house as he had said. Keiji left his two friends back by the bench and started to head home. Kurizu and Yasuo headed towards the Third Training Grounds.

Keiji walked along the street at a slower pace, not entirely sure of what to do. Letting his feet guide him, Keiji looked down at the ground and allowed his own thoughts to flow. Mainly, they involved what had just happened with Takeshi, Kurizu, and Yasuo. He wanted to follow up on this mission. He wanted to find the guy who poisoned the dogs, but he couldn't. Disobeying a direct order would be bad. They were probably right, too. He was just a newly made Genin. Even if he went and found the guy who did this, there was no guarantee that Keiji would make it out of the confrontation alive. The guy could be a Jonin level shinobi for all Keiji knew.

_**Since when did I ever care about rules and orders, though? I'm my own person. I'm not someone else's pawn...**_

Sighing once, Keiji came to a stop. He had no idea how he had walked here without realizing where he was until now, but when he realized where he was he knew exactly why he was here.

There was a somewhat small body of water more towards the western side of the village. It was relatively close to the alley where Keiji had found the pack of hounds. The body of water, probably a bit too small to be considered a lake, yet a bit too big to be considered a pond, was a common hangout spot for a few of the other new Genin. Quite frequently, Koji Inuzuka could be found here.

"I'm already here." Keiji concluded, shrugging his shoulders.

Koji was, in fact, here. He and Baúl, his personal ninja hound, were spending their day here. Baúl was a small hound with a mostly gray pelt. There were three patches of black fur on his pelt, one around his right eye, another around his back left paw, and another on the tip of his tail. Baúl loved to swim in the pond, so that was the reason that Koji often came here.

Koji had dark brown hair and eyes that appeared to be black but were actually dark brown, as well. Koji was an Inuzuka, so it was only natural that he had fangs and claws as a part of his appearance. He wore a gray jacket, which was a bit thin and was probably mostly used for its appearance rather than its effectiveness in heating one up. The jacket had a gray and black checkerboard design to it. Koji tended to wear this jacket zipped up only halfway, making a part of the shirt he wore underneath visible. The pants he wore with this jacket were black and almost skintight. The typical shinobi accessories, such as the beige pouch and the kunai holster, were on him at all times, too.

Koji was seated by the edge of the pond. His legs were dangling down over the edge, hanging just barely above the surface of the water. The sun made the water look beautiful, considering how bright it was today. Baúl was swimming a bit far out in the water, appearing to be enjoying himself. Every so often, the dog would see something underwater, bark a few times, and dive down to try to get what it saw. In most cases, it came up with a small fish still wriggling with life between his jaws or a piece of trash that some kid had decided to discard in the pond. In every instance when Baúl caught a fish, it would release it and allow it to return back into the water, unharmed.

Keiji liked Koji. The two of them had a similar respect for animals and found it easy to connect with one another in that also wasn't a bad person. He was generally a good guy and wouldn't really make fun of anyone or talk about them behind their back. He and Keiji were pretty decent friends.

Keiji had gone over and sat down beside Koji. They exchanged greetings and then just sat there, both of them watching Baúl swimming for a few minutes before conversing.

"I wanted to ask you something, Koji." Keiji began, feeling as though Koji had already presumed this. Koji didn't take his eyes off of Baúl, but he did still listen intently to Keiji as he spoke. "It's about the drugged dogs that ran away from your clan, yesterday. You wouldn't happen to have any leads as to who could have drugged them, would you?"

The entire Inuzuka clan had already found out that the dogs had been drugged. Takeshi had reported the find to the Hokage who, in turn, reported the find to the Inuzuka clan. Koji was well aware that the dogs had been drugged, so Keiji wasn't telling him something that he didn't know.

"We started looking into it today and have only been able to come up with one thing." Koji responds, turning his gaze over to Keiji. "There was a guy who we hired regularly to medically take care of our dogs. He was a professional, but apparently he visited villages and offered his services to people who had pets or fought alongside animals, like us. He was actually in the village recently, too, giving the very dogs that ran away immunization shots. I think he did the job yesterday. After the dogs ran away, he seemed to just up and disappear. Nobody really noticed that he was gone until after the dogs returned, when we tried to find him to ask for his help in treating them. We can't say that he did it for sure, but I think he's a suspect. Why do you ask?"

This was great. There was already a person who the Inuzuka clan suspected in this incident and Koji had willingly gave up the information to Keiji. Things were going pretty smoothly, so far.

"Well... I sorta wanted to go after this guy. I would go with my squad on our own, but they don't want to disobey our sensei's orders." Keiji explained, Koji nodding in understanding. "If you aren't busy, I'd want you and Baúl to come with me. You probably know this guy better than I do, and you could track him by his scent, right?"

"Of course we'll go. If he actually did drug our dogs, I want to be the first one to make him pay!" Koji exclaimed. He seemed to be a bit more fired up now.

Baúl had swum up closer to Keiji and Koji, by now, and came out onto the dry land. He shook his pelt, getting the excess water off of him and onto the grass beneath his paws, and went up to the two boys. Baúl barked, happy to see Keiji. Keiji pet the gray dog's head for a few moments.

"Perfect." he said, his attention returning to Koji. "Let's meet up by the gates in two hours and we'll leave to search for the guy."

"I'm gonna bring Midori with us. Okay? A team of four would be much better for something like this." Koji said as he stood up. Keiji stood up with him. Keiji nodded, not sure about how Midori would feel about doing something like this. They would be disregarding orders and would likely get hell when they returned. Apparently, Midori liked Koji, so that might be enough to get her to come along.

With that, both Keiji and Koji parted ways.

3

Keiji went back home as soon as he finished talking with Koji. He hadn't expected a self assigned mission to be put into motion from a simple talk with Koji. Keiji had only meant to get some information out of Koji. Now, he had a team of three- no, four including Baúl- assembled. With Koji's enhanced sense of smell, they would be able to find the guy who drugged the dogs in no time by following his scent. The scent was only a day old, at the very most, and there was only one way to exit the village, so they should be able to track him.

When Keiji got back home, he found his father in the backyard. Their backyard was a wide open, grassy space. There was a small pond at the far back of the yard, a few cherry blossom trees growing around the pond. The pond had been put into the yard with a sensor, a faucet, and a drain on the inside. When the water's level got too far below the sensor, the faucet inside of the pond would turn on and refill it until it leveled with the sensor. When the water's level got too high above the sensor, from excessive amounts of rain, the drain would open up and flush out some of the water until it leveled with the sensor.

The backyard was mostly used for training, and this was exactly what Kohaku was doing. After walking into the house and to the door leading to the backyard, Keiji watched his dad train for a few minutes. He observed the absurd speed at which he cast his hand seals and looking with awe as his dad used the water from the pond as a means to execute a Suiton technique, the pond refilling within minutes after Kohaku used the jutsu.

"Hey, dad!" Keiji called out from the back door of the house, which was where he had been watching from. Kohaku seemed to have already been aware of his son's presence and turned to face the house. Keiji stepped out of the house and headed over towards his father. "I want you to teach me a jutsu, dad."

Kohaku looked at him with weary eyes which almost said, _You want me to do this __**now? **_Keiji nodded impatiently, as though he had read the intent of his father's eyes. His dad let out a sigh and wiped the beads of sweat from off of his forehead.

"Alright, alright. You're a Genin, now, so I suppose it's time you learned a jutsu." Kohaku said, thinking over which technique he should teach his son as he spoke. It should be a weaker technique which Keiji will be able to use easily. Or maybe he should teach him a more difficult technique, first, to show him how difficult it could be to learn a jutsu. "Alright, son. I'm going to teach you how to use _Suiton: Todoroku Nami."_

Keiji already knew about this technique. When you used _Suiton: Todoroku Nami, _you would take any body of water and send it rushing at an enemy, knocking them off of their feet with the intensity of the water. It was difficult technique to use because you had to make the water instantaneously rush at the foe. The water would have to go from a standstill to a high speed almost instantly. If it didn't, it wouldn't have the desired effect when it reached the foe.

"First, we'll go over the hand seals." Kohaku explained. There were five hand seals in total. Kohaku showed Keiji the five hand seals three times at a pace slow enough so one could memorize the order of the seals. "I want you to show me the hand seals, now."

Keiji nodded and cast the five hand seals, not worrying about his chakra or anything else. Right now, all he needed to do was show his dad the seals. Keiji showed Kohaku the hand seals at a slow pace, the speed increasing slightly each time. Keiji had memorized the hand seals pretty easily, but that was the simple part. Both father and son knew this.

"Okay. Now, I want you to stand by the pond and try to execute the technique, applying your chakra with the hand seals." Kohaku told his son. Keiji nodded and walked over to the pond, standing with his back facing his dad. Behind the pond was nothing more than a white fence, which lined the boundaries of the yard. "I'm not expecting anything to really happen. This is just to see what you could be capable of."

Keiji was aware of this. He made the hand seals, casting them at a slightly faster speed than his previous attempts had been at. He was getting the hang of the seals, so casting them at a quicker speed was not a problem.

"_**Suiton... Todoroku Nami..." **_Keiji muttered, first looking down at the body of water and then up at the fence. Nothing seemed to be happening, so Keiji cast the hand seals a second time and avoided looking down at the water.

Something odd happened when Keiji used the technique for the second time. Water started to gather from the air, creating an unstable sphere of water that was about the size of Keiji's head. After the instant in which the water sphere had been created and the instant in which it took Kohaku to realize what had happened, the sphere of water seemed to lose its form and collapse onto the grass at Keiji's feet.

_**Even I'm not skilled enough to use the trace amounts of water found in the air as a means for my **__**jutsu... and yet, my son just did exactly that. People with massive amounts of chakra, like the Second Hokage, were known to be able to do this. Was it a random fluke, or does Keiji actually have that much chakra? **_Kohaku thought with uncertainty. He knew that Keiji's chakra supply was barely above average, in comparison to his other classmates' chakra. There was no way Keiji should have been able to do something like this.

Kohaku looked at Keiji and noticed him attempting the technique a third time. The water was drawn into a sphere from the air, just like last time, except this time the water sphere seemed to bubble up intensely on the inside before exploding. The two of them flinched as the water drenched Keiji and splashed on Kohaku.

"Dammit..." Keiji groaned, pointlessly trying to wipe the water off of his face with a hand that was just as soaked with water. Upon realizing the futility of the actions, he started to make the hand seals for the technique a fourth time. "This time, for sure..." He had no idea that the way he was using the jutsu was both peculiar and amazing. Not many shinobi, let alone Genin, were able to use the water in the air for their Ninjutsu.

The fourth attempt went better than the previous three. After making the hand seals, the water sphere formed in the air again. It started to bubble up for a brief moment before _exploding_, again. This time, there seemed to be a much lesser _explosion_ at the back of the sphere. This small rear _explosion _caused the sphere to lose its form and get launched forward, vigorously pelting the white fence.

_**Clever. **_Kohaku thought after observing this fourth attempt made by his son. _**It isn't typically how the technique is supposed to be done, but it works all the same. **_

Keiji went up to his dad and appeared to be excited. He had managed to use the technique, more or less, so he was happy with the results. Keiji was talking and thanking his dad, and before Kohaku knew it, Keiji went back into the house to get ready for something.

Kohaku looked at the white fence after Keiji went away and he noticed that the fence had gotten damaged. In fact, parts of the fence had actually gotten destroyed.

For a moment, Kohaku's eyes widened. This jutsu was not supposed to be destructive at all. It was supposed to hinder the foe, if anything. Kohaku noticed a light steam rising up from the damaged wooden fence. The water that Keiji had gathered must have been hot in order for that steam to have been created. The water was infused with his chakra. That may have caused the increase in temperature, but it didn't explain the destructive force of the water. Kohaku wanted to question Keiji about this, but felt that it would be pointless. Keiji wouldn't know anything about what had just happened.

4

After the brief training with his dad, Keiji had gone into his room for the next hour. He had wanted to pass time until he was supposed to meet with Koji, Baúl, and Midori, so he spent this time taking a short nap. He had woken up with that same detached feeling that he had felt from this morning. He considered that there may be something wrong with him, but decided that it would have to wait until after this whole thing is taken care of.

Upon waking up, Keiji packed a bag and headed out. He told his dad that Koji and Midori had invited him to go for a hike outside of the village. After saying goodbye to his dad, Keiji left and headed to the village gates. He found Koji, Baúl, and Midori waiting for him there. They exchanged greetings and immediately focused more on the mission at hand.

"His name is Ran Iroh..." Koji said, holding Baúl in his arms. Baúl barked at the mentioning of Iroh's name. Baúl was a small dog, so his barks were weak and almost pathetic. That was where his charm was, though. It was that weak appearance that made him adorable. Koji breathed in deeply, taking in the numerous amounts of scents that were in the area. Some of the scents were old, ranging from days to a week old, while others were relatively new. It would've been a difficult job trying to match every single scent to a name, but he didn't have to do that. All he needed to do was find a specific scent that smelled a specific way, and that was easy enough for an Inuzuka. "...and I found his scent."

Apparently, Iroh's scent had left the village. The scent wasn't too old and it wasn't relatively new, so Koji guessed that Iroh had either left yesterday or the day before. Koji concluded that if they moved quickly enough, it shouldn't take them very long to catch up with him.

"Are you guys sure we should be doing this?" Midori asked, sounding slightly uncertain about the entire plan.

"Yes, Midori." Koji said in a reassuring tone. "This man poisoned our hounds and immediately left the village. By the time the Hokage gets a team together, he'll be long gone. We need to find him before he tries this stunt on something, or someone, else."

Midori nodded in understanding, but she still had her doubts. Keiji and Koji both knew this but disregarded it. She had a choice in whether or not she wanted to tag along. Midori could have left at any time. Since she was still here, it suggested that she wanted to go, too.

"Alright. Let's go, then." Keiji said, signaling to the group that it was time to leave. Midori and Koji nodded, Baúl barking in sync, and they departed the village in search of Ran Iroh.

**[Now that this chapter is finished, I would like to offer all of you readers who stuck it out this far a chance to create and submit an OC for the story. Create a character who can be used as an enemy or a villain and give them unique abilities. Submit them through private messaging and I'll pick ten to have appear later in the story. You can submit more than one character, too. Naturally, I'll credit those who submitted the characters that get chosen. If you need further details, just private message me. I'd appreciate you readers giving this a shot. Thank you~]**


	4. Chapter Four

[Here's Chapter Four, out a bit earlier than usual. Enjoy~ Also, if anyone wants to submit an OC to be used at a later point in the story, PM me about it. The only restriction is that the character has to be usable as an enemy.]

Chapter Four

1

With Koji and Baúl leading, the group raced through the forests which surrounded the Hidden Leaf Village. The sky that they could see through the dense treetops was still bright and blue. This made sense since they had left the village at about 4PM. It wouldn't start to get dark out for another few hours, but that wasn't the worst thing that could happen to them. The sky could let loose an onslaught of rain, washing away the scent forever. Luckily for them, it wasn't supposed to rain today. Tomorrow, but not today.

The scent of Ran Iroh wasn't strong, but it was still there leading them through a strange path that went through thickets of trees and bushes. The group concluded that this meant that Iroh was probably either a shinobi or just a normal man capable of leaping into trees and then into other trees from those initial trees. The first option, Iroh being a shinobi, excited Keiji a bit. Apparently, this would mean that he would be able to put a technique he had learned into use.

"You learned a new technique, Keiji?" Koji asked, somewhat puzzled. If Keiji knew a technique, why hadn't he used it in his fight against Midori that was only a few days ago. It wasn't likely that any Genin could learn a technique which would be useful against a person like Ran Iroh, whom they knew little to nothing about, in only a few days. "Well, now we both have something up our sleeves for this guy."

As a part of the Inuzuka custom, when a clan member becomes a Genin they are to be taught a certain technique. It was a technique that had been developed over the years and this technique was gradually merged in with their fighting style. It was said to make an Inuzuka's techniques and attacks more powerful.

Keiji didn't respond to Koji's statement. He just retained an excited look as he focused on what was to come.

"Are we getting any closer to him, Koji?" Midori asked as Koji led the group down from the branches of a tree.

Keiji looked at Midori as they stopped briefly. He got a strange feeling when he looked at her. On top of that, there were two things that he couldn't believe. He couldn't believe that this was the girl who had almost beaten him in the graduation exam and he also couldn't believe that she could be a Jinchuuriki. He wanted to ask her about it, mostly if the Kyuubi had ever tried to contact her or anything and if it had, what it was like. The strange feeling didn't come from this, though.

He felt as though Midori was radiating with something that he couldn't quite determine. He felt like he was sensing her chakra, or something. It was weird since it had never happened with any other person before.

Koji took a deep breath and examined the scent a bit more thoroughly. He had already noticed that Iroh was moving at an odd pace. At some times, Iroh's scent was thin and barely detectable, which suggested that he was moving at a higher speed. At other times, Iroh's scent was packed together and slightly more noticeable, suggesting that he had been standing in certain places for a longer period of time. This meant that Iroh was alternating between moving at a higher speed and a lower speed, probably to throw off anyone who tried to track him down. At this specific area, Iroh had been moving more slowly so the scent was slightly stronger.

After confirming that the scent had grown a bit stronger, he told Midori that they were catching up to him. Koji also said that they would need to move a bit faster since it was likely that Iroh was a shinobi. Keiji and Midori both followed Koji's suggestion and when they started moving again, they increased their speed.

About two hours had passed before Iroh's overall scent became strong. To Koji, it seemed as though Iroh had come through this area about a half an hour ago. The scent was more spaced out when they came through this area, so it was likely that Iroh had run at a faster pace here. This meant that he would've been walking more slowly in the next area, so it was possible that they would run into him soon.

Koji turned to Keiji and Midori. "We're ready for this, right? I mean... What if he's a Jonin or something? Do you think we can handle him?" Koji asked, Baúl barking at the uncertainty in his owner's voice.

Keiji held out his fist to Koji in response. "Of course we can. I've got my jutsu and Hangetsu, you've got your jutsu and Baúl, and Midori has her clones and the Kyuubi." he said, knowing full well that the last point was only half true. Midori may have been a Jinchuuriki, but contact with the Kyuubi had not yet been established so she couldn't rely on its power to help them.

Koji tapped his fist against Keiji's and nodded. They were slightly more advanced than your average Genin. Keiji knew how to use a unique weapon like Hangetsu, somewhat. Koji and Baúl were already an awesome team. Midori had the Kyuubi, which gave her an unnatural amount of chakra. They were now confident that they would be able to win after Keiji had reassured them.

Keiji, Koji, and Midori kept running through the forest while keeping an eye on their surroundings for about six more minutes before Baúl stopped them with his barking. Koji immediately recognized what triggered Baúl's barking and nodded to Keiji and Midori.

_**He's up ahead, then? **_Keiji thought, reaching into a side pocket of the bag. He felt the handle of the kusarigama to make sure it hadn't fallen out of the bag while they ran, or anything. When he was sure that his weapon was still there, Keiji felt confident that this would go well.

2

A cloaked man was walking along a path in the forest. He had his right hand held up to the hood which he had up. He was pulling the hood slightly forward in an attempt to conceal more of his face. His left hand rested snugly in his pocket. The man was walking at a slow pace, as if he was in no hurry to get to his destination.

There were three kids chasing after him. They were sloppy and allowed themselves to get detected as soon as they had entered this man's range. They were only kids, though. Three kids and a dog. It would have been surprising if they _had_ gotten past his sight.

This man was not Ran Iroh. Ran Iroh was nothing more than a hastily devised alias which proved more than useful for this person and the task which he had been required to perform. It was a simple task. He had been ordered to remain in the Hidden Leaf Village and perform medicinal services for the dogs of one of the clans there. Every so often, a drug would be delivered to him which he would test on the dogs. Yesterday's delivery and experiment was the final stage of his instructions. The drug had done exactly what it was supposed to do. It brought the bestial nature out of those dogs. After confirming this, he was supposed to return back to his base with the remains of the drug and a verbal report, to coincide with the written report he had sent out, of what the drug had done.

This man had expected the Hidden Leaf Village to suspect Ran Iroh of drugging the dogs and the man had expected the Hidden Leaf to send out a small group of Jonin to apprehend him. He had been prepared to fight them. With his skills, the Leaf Jonin wouldn't have stood a chance. Instead, they had sent a few Genin after him. He even recognized one of the kids.

Koji Inuzuka. During the time spent infiltrating the Hidden Leaf Village, Ran Iroh stayed with the Inuzuka clan. He had seen Koji from time to time, either training or doing something else entirely. Koji Inuzuka was definitely one of the more talented Inuzuka boys, having already developed a close bond with his hound Baúl. Iroh had even spoken to Koji once or twice, usually about the dogs. The boy was knowledgeable, but a bit naïve.

The cloaked man knew plenty about the Inuzuka clan. The members are born with an extremely enhanced sense of smell. They fight alongside ninja hounds, combining their own powers to overwhelm their opponents. One of their common techniques was _Gatsuga, _a jutsu where the user spins at a rapid enough speed to create a torpedo shape around their body. The technique was a dangerous one, for the foe, as it could easily shred whatever it hits.

"When you can see everything, nothing can deceive you." the man murmured, a laugh escaping his mouth for a brief moment.

The kids were nearing him, now. From what he could tell, the two other kids had large supplies of chakra. One of them was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. That had been the first thing that he had found out, upon infiltrating the village. Just about everyone everywhere knew that the Kyuubi belonged to the Hidden Leaf Village. This man wanted to find out who the Kyuubi had been sealed into, in the event that they were an experienced shinobi and had gained control over the Kyuubi. Facing up against something like that could be a problem.

Naruto Uzumaki had become the Seventh Hokage and upon his death, the Kyuubi had been removed from his body and was immediately sealed inside the body of another host. By the time the Ninth Hokage Konohamaru Sarutobi was put into power, the Jinchuuriki at that time had died. The Kyuubi was removed again and had been sealed inside of Konohamaru's daughter who, in turn, had the Kyuubi removed upon her death and sealed inside of her granddaughter, Midori.

Midori Sarutobi was twelve years old and appeared to be nothing more than a weak little girl. Even with the Kyuubi, she would pose no threat to this cloaked man. The third kid was unimportant and was probably just some kid with a naturally high level of chakra. He would pose even less of a threat than Midori would.

The cloaked man let out a sigh and stopped walking. He turned around and faced the direction from which the three kids would come. He saw everything within seconds.

A tree directly across from him, on his left. He saw the small twitching shadow extending just past the right side of the tree. One was hiding behind there, choosing a terrible place to hide due to the position of the setting sun.

A tree directly in front of him. The man watched as two small leaves broke free from their moving branches and drifted down to the ground. One was hiding in the tree, unable to keep still and ultimately caused some of the leaves to fall from the tree. It was probably the random boy with the large amount of chakra.

A tree directly to his right. The angle was in the man's favor. In the corner of his eye, he could a small black-tipped tail sticking out from behind the tree. Apparently, Koji and Baúl were still only an amateur team. Koji hid well enough to conceal himself, but forgot entirely about concealing the dog that rested on his shoulders.

"How did you three even graduate from the Ninja Academy?" the man asked, practically feeling the three kids jump as he spoke to them. They waited a few moments first before stepping out of their hiding places.

Keiji and Midori stood the least distance away from one another. Keiji had his kusarigama out, the handle of the sickle in his right hand and the end of the chain in his left. Midori was holding a kunai knife. Koji and Baúl were standing on the side opposite of Midori's, Koji down on all fours and Baúl's fur reddened with the effects of a food pill.

"So, you're already prepared to attack? What if it wasn't me who poisoned your precious dogs, though?" the man said with a smirk. He all but confessed to the deed by speaking of something that he should have no knowledge of. Ran Iroh had left the village before the dogs had gone berserk. He wouldn't have known that anything had happened to them.

The man's words triggered the attacks.

Keiji leaped upwards and towards the cloaked man. He was swinging the sickle by the chain, preparing to throw it down at the man. He could guide the sickle by using the chain as some kind of control. While Keiji did this, Midori made a few hand seals and uttered the words, "_**Bunshin no Jutsu."**_ Almost two dozen illusory clones of Midori appeared in the area surrounding the man who they believed to be Ran Iroh. Baúl jumped onto Koji's back and Koji made a single hand seal. Baúl transformed into a copy of Koji and dismounted from his back, the two of them charging at the cloaked man.

The cloaked man smirked for a brief moment before his body vanished, reappearing in front of Koji and Baúl.

"Did you know?" he started to say as he forcefully slammed his palms into Koji and Baúl's foreheads, knocking them back. The man disappeared again, reappearing in front of the real Midori. "Eyes that can see everything..." The man grabbed Midori by the throat, spun to the right, and launched her into the air towards Keiji. Immediately after, the man disappeared again and reappeared in the air, next to Keiji. "...cannot be deceived." The man swiftly grabbed the chain of Hangetsu and used it to pull Keiji. He spun to his left and released the chain when the two of them were facing the incoming Midori, sending Keiji flying at her. The man disappeared a fourth time, reappearing on the ground. At that precise moment, Koji and Baúl both slammed into the ground and Keiji and Midori slammed into each other, being forced down into the ground. Midori's clones disappeared when they hit the ground.

"You can attack me simultaneously or you can attack me individually. You can use hundreds of weak attacks or you can use one strong attack. No matter what you do, I will see through it all, and you three will regret ever coming after me."

Keiji, Koji, Midori, and Baúl lay on the ground for a few moments before standing up again. They had no idea how everything had even happened. This guy had countered all of their attacks perfectly in a span of ten seconds.

"He said his eyes can see everything..." Midori said to Keiji. "Do you think he has the Byakugan... or the Sharingan... or something similar?"

"I dunno." Keiji said, shrugging his shoulders. "With his hood up like that, I can't see his eyes to tell if he has a Kekkei Genkai or not."

From where they were standing, they could see Koji. First, they saw him take a small pill out of one of his pouches and slip it into his mouth. After he ate the pill, they watched Koji start to cast several hand seals. When Koji had finished making the hand seals, he let his arms hang freely out in front of him. Chakra started to gather at his fingertips, soon focusing more at his fingernails. The chakra extended off of his nails, forming into light blue chakra claws which were almost eight inches in length each.

"_**Tsume: Encho...**_" Koji growled after the chakra claws had fully formed. The effects of the food pill that he had eaten was starting to show, as well. Food pills were designed to grant the consumer enough energy and stamina to keep them fighting for days. They were commonly used by the Inuzuka clan.

Koji charged at the cloaked man with a speed that had been enhanced by the food pill. He reached the man in a matter of seconds and immediately began to barrage him with a bunch of swift slashes with the claws. Every slash was evaded by the man with unnatural ease. Some of them were dodged by stepping back, some were dodged by twisting out of the way, and some were even dodged with a quick redirection. Regardless of the method in which they were dodged, the man managed to evade every single attack as if knew where the next attack would come from even before Koji, himself, did.

Baúl came up from behind the man, using Koji's attacks as a means to get one of his own in. Baúl jumped at the man and twisted his body, intending to slam his hind legs into the back of the man. Before his attack even connected, the man jumped to the right. Baúl's attack kept going and the kick hit Koji in the face, sending him onto his back. Baúl's kick was powerful too, which was strange considering the overall small size of the dog itself.

"Dammit! Koji!" Keiji yelled, picking the kusarigama up off of the ground. It was his turn. Midori wouldn't be able to fight this guy with her skills. The guy knew exactly which Midori was the real one when she summoned all of those clones, before. It probably had something to do with that sight thing that he had been talking about, too. "Midori. Go see if Koji's alright. I'll lure this guy away."

Midori nodded and started to head towards Koji. Keiji started to spin the sickle by the chain again, keeping his eyes fixed on the cloaked man. Not only did this guy apparently have some kind of strange ability, but he was also very fast and strong. Losing sight of a monster like this could mean the end for all of them, so Keiji kept his opponent locked in his sights.

The cloaked man wasn't moving. He was simply standing across from Koji, watching the Inuzuka boy sit up in a daze, with his left hand in his pocket. He probably wasn't even actually watching Koji. It was probably just some ploy to make it seem as though there was an opening to attack. There was nothing else to do, so Keiji charged at the man and let loose his own attack.

Keiji threw the sickle at the cloaked man. When the sickle was about to hit the man and potentially slice him up, the man jumped backwards and evaded it with ease. Keiji grabbed the chain that was connected to the sickle with both hands and used it to guide the thrown sickle to the left, leading it right for the cloaked man. This was a perfect setup. The opponent was still in the air from having jumped backwards, so there was no way for him to evade the incoming sickle blade.

The sickle sunk into the man's chest, blood immediately splattering onto the blade and the ground. Keiji smirked out of both excitement and contentment. Not only had he managed to land a blow on the man, but it was also a fatal hit. It may have been enough to end the fight, altogether. The man's body hit the ground and lay there, motionless. By now, Midori had already gotten over to Koji and was checking his neck to make sure that Baúl's kick didn't actually do some damage.

Keiji started to walk over towards the man's body. What he saw when he got closer made his jaw drop out of confusion. Instead of the man's body, the sickle was sunk into a log. The blood which had splattered onto the ground and the blade no longer existed. The man had used a Kawarimi no Jutsu, or a substitution technique where the user can replace themselves with a nearby object to avoid an attack. From a distance, it had appeared as if the attack had actually hit the man, but the technique was performed with such a ridiculous speed that Keiji couldn't tell exactly when the switch had been done.

Keiji cursed and threw the weapon onto the ground. Now, he had lost sight of the enemy, which was exactly what he was trying to avoid. The guy could have just up and started running for all Keiji knew. Depending on when he had used the Kawarimi no Jutsu and considering his speed, he could have gotten a good distance away.

Looking around, Keiji first noticed Midori and Koji. Apparently, Koji was just fine after receiving the brunt of Baúl's attack. They were both standing, Baúl whining apologetically by his owner's feet. They seem to have noticed that the cloaked man was no longer in the direct area too and were looking around for him.

_**Did you know? Eyes that can see everything cannot be deceived.**_

Keiji groaned as the man's words resounded through his head. Could this guy actually see everything that went on? Was he actually omniscient?

_**Simultaneously... Individually... Strong... Weak... No matter what you do, I will see through it all...**_

Keiji fell to his knees clutching his head. This voice didn't even sound like the man they believed to be Ran Iroh. It was different. It was darker and more sinister.

_**Do you honestly believe you can win? You're weak. He's strong.**_

"What does it matter?" Keiji muttered to the voice in his head. "The guy's... probably long gone, by now..."

_**He's still here, watching you fools from the trees.**_

"How do you-" Keiji replied, now actively sure that he was speaking to a voice inside of his head.

_**Did you know? Eyes that can see everything cannot be deceived.**_

At that moment, the voice disappeared and the pain that had been present in Keiji's head ceased to exist. Everything seemed to be abnormally quiet to Keiji. He looked over to Koji and Midori. They had their backs to him, now, and had probably missed the little incident that had just gone on with Keiji and the voice in his head. They were probably still looking for the cloaked man.

_**He's in the trees, **_Keiji thought. He looked up at the trees and started looking for any signs of movement. The first few trees that Keiji observed were still. A tree that was a good distance ahead of him and slightly to the left had a few branches that twitched slightly. It may have been an animal, but that would be a good cover to use.

"Is he up there?" Keiji asked, hoping the voice would give him some confirmation. It took the voice a few moments, but it did speak up.

_**He is. Use your jutsu and knock him out of the tree.**_

It concerned Keiji slightly that whoever or whatever this voice belonged to knew that Keiji had a jutsu which could hypothetically be used to knock someone out of a tree. It was a good idea, though. If he could execute the technique properly, he could very well cause the tree to shake violently enough to knock the man out of it.

Keiji smirked and stood up. He made the hand seals for the jutsu. The sphere of water started to form in the air before Keiji. The sphere was slowly rotating in the air, the water appearing to be contained within a small circular barrier.

**"**_**Suiton!"**_Keiji exclaimed, both Midori and Koji looking over to him with astonishment. "_**Todoroku Nami!"**_

The back of the water sphere, the area directly in front of Keiji, seemed to explode slightly and the rest of the sphere was launched forward with an insane amount of force. The water moved through the air at a high speed, crashing into the base of the tree. The water seemed to continuously pelt the trunk of the tree, more water being used to attack the tree than there even appeared to be in the sphere of water.

The water was making the tree shake and sway. In about forty seconds, the water stopped pelting the tree. The tree swayed one final time after the technique stopped and then the cloaked man promptly dropped from the branches and crashed onto the ground.

"Eyes that can see everything can't be deceived, eh?" Keiji asked the man who had just fallen out of the tree and was now getting to his feet. "Yeah. Now two can play at that game."

_**Whoever you are... I'm asking you a favor. Be my eyes for me and help me beat this guy. I have to win. **_Keiji thought, feeling somewhat insane. He thought that the voice wouldn't respond and started to lose some hope.

_**Do exactly as I say and you'll come out of this alive.**_

Keiji sprinted towards the man as soon as the voice agreed to help him.

The cloaked man was now standing and merely looked towards the charging boy.

_**This kid doesn't know when to quit. And what could he possibly mean by **_**two can play at that game?** The cloaked man thought with a sigh.

As soon as Keiji reached the cloaked man, he threw a single punch at him. The cloaked man held his palm out in front of his face and grabbed Keiji's fist when it got close.

_**He's going to punch you with his free hand. Disable the hand and attack him.**_

Keiji mentally nodded and used his own free hand to reach out and quickly grab the man's free hand by the wrist. This seemed to catch the man off guard, and Keiji used this opportunity to attack. He leaned back a bit, as much as he could, and then launched his head forward, slamming his forehead into the cloaked man's nose.

The cloaked man screamed as his nose was smashed by Keiji's head. When Keiji pulled back, blood was dripping down his head and face. Most of it was not his. The cloaked man most likely now had a broken nose and blood was streaming down his face. He had broken free of Keiji's grip and let go of the hand, bringing his own hand up to his shattered nose.

_**He knew I was going to punch him! He knew exactly what I was going to do and stopped the punch before it was even executed! He knew I would be stunned by what he did and he used that chance to attack! How?! How did a stupid brat manage to do this to my face?! **_The cloaked man mentally roared, his eyes blazing with anger and frustration.

Keiji took a few steps back and held his hand to his head. A small cut had opened up on his forehead, but that was nothing compared to the damage he had just done to his enemy. He was grinning from joy. The enemy that he, Koji, and Midori could not even touch before was now injured and clearly in shock.

_**How did you know? How did you know that that would work?**_ Keiji mentally asked.

_**It isn't a special trick or anything. I can see through your eyes. Everything has a tell. I notice those tells, like his hand twitching before he goes to throw a punch or his right foot shifting position before he goes to run to the right. It's most likely what he does, too.**_

_** I see what he does, now. He tries to psych us out by making it seem like he either has a Kekkei Genkai or like he can actually see everything. All that he actually does is predict our actions before we do anything by looking for our tells. **_Keiji thought, feeling slightly annoyed with this enemy. This guy used a simple trick to knock them around. If it hadn't been for whatever this voice belonged to, they would never be able to win this fight.

"Speaking of which... Koji, Midori! This guy is mine! Just stand back and watch while he gets taken down!" Keiji yelled back to his two friends. The two of them were amazed by how Keiji had been able to land such an attack on their enemy, who had previously tossed them around like they were simply trash. Keiji looked at the cloaked man, now. "Who are you, really? You don't fit the description of someone selfless enough to go around treating injured animals, so I wouldn't be surprised if you go by a different name."

"Call me Zagi..." the cloaked man said to Keiji, his hand hovering over his broken nose. He was too afraid that touching his nose would cause more pain, but the bleeding would not be reduced if pressure wasn't applied to it. "...it's the last name you'll ever learn, kid!" Zagi charged at Keiji, himself, and prepared to attack.

3

Both Keiji and Zagi fought at a close range. With the help of the voice inside of his head, Keiji was able to parry every single one of Zagi's attacks. He would be warned of a punch coming from the left and Keiji would step out of the reach of Zagi's left hand, before the punch was even executed. He would be told of Zagi's presumed movements and Keiji would manage to get in an attack as Zagi tried to move. With every single attack that was parried or dodged, Zagi grew more infuriated. With every single attack of Keiji's that hit, Zagi became even more infuriated. Every single time he got more infuriated, he made more and more basic mistakes. This attack strategy which Keiji was following was gradually tearing Zagi apart.

After becoming unable to comprehend how this kid who had been so easy to knock around before was able to predict his attacks so well, Zagi jumped back to create some distance.

"You're doing too well..." Zagi muttered to Keiji, reaching into his right pocket. His hand closed over an object inside of it as he pulled it out. In his hand was a syringe with a retractable needle. The needle popped out of the base of the syringe and a clear liquid dripped out of the tip. "I'll have to use this."

Keiji could barely make out the syringe in Zagi's hand, but the voice inside of his head could see it clearly. It noticed Zagi glance over to Koji and immediately knew what he was going to try.

_**He's done attacking you. He has a syringe in his hand and he's going to use it on the other boy.**_

"A syringe..." Keiji repeated out loud, knowing full well what would be inside of the syringe. It was probably the same drug which had been used on the hounds. A small dosage had been able to make Keiji go berserk for a short amount of time. What would a full dose do to someone like Koji? "I'll stop him."

Keiji immediately made a run for Koji. Koji had no idea what was going on, but he braced himself. Zagi started to run towards Koji after Keiji did, but Keiji reached him first. Keiji stood in front of Koji with his arms out at his sides.

"He's trying to use the drug on you, Koji. Stay behind me." Keiji said in a whisper tone. Before Koji could reply, Midori cried out in pain.

Instead of actually going for Koji, Zagi had gone for Midori and reached her with ease. He had used his speed to get behind her and knock her to the ground, grab her arm, and inject the drug into her body. Midori let out the cry at that point as she writhed on the ground in pain. As Keiji turned to see what had happened, even though he already knew, Zagi had used the same syringe and stabbed it into Keiji's chest.

"It all... happened so fast..." Keiji murmured as he dropped to the ground, the needle being ripped out of his chest. The drug had been injected into both Midori and Keiji. "He tricked us... with his eyes..."

The drug quickly spread throughout their bodies and effects made themselves apparent quickly. Both Keiji and Midori started to stand up, their bodies hunched over and their arms hanging down at their sides. They were both looking directly up at the sky. A sound was escaping their closed mouths, almost sounding as if they were groaning from some ongoing pain. They were.

The pain came first. All over their bodies, they experienced a severe burning sensation. It was probably from the drug itself, but the insides of their bodies were metaphorically on fire. They couldn't scream or cry out, though. They could barely even think or process what was going on. Everything was a blur to them.

When they looked down and at Zagi and Koji, both Keiji and Midori immediately felt hostility. They wanted to literally break the two of them apart, and they had no idea why. They started to move towards Koji first. He was the smaller of the two, so he would be the easiest to destroy. They moved slowly, one painful step at a time.

"Guys..." Koji called out, his voice weakened. Both Keiji and Midori had been injected with a drug which would make them as insane as the drugged hounds had been. Essentially, this could be problematic for Koji and Baúl. He realized this when they started to walk towards him with their blazing eyes. "Guys... Please stop."

After taking a few steps, they actually did stop. It wasn't from Koji's plea, though. A new development was taking place. Keiji and Midori both clutched their heads and started to scream, a powerful force emanating from both of their bodies. The force was strong enough to make the surrounding trees sway and crack. Zagi's eyes widened as he realized what was happening.

Chakra started to envelop Midori, but it wasn't her typical blue chakra. This chakra was red and malicious. As it leaked out of her body, it resembled an energy aura. Midori's eyes became red and bore a slight resemblance to that of a feline. The whisker markings on her cheeks darkened, making her look a bit more vicious. Her fingernails became claws and her teeth grew into fangs.

A similar thing was happening to Keiji. A darker, borderline black chakra was leaking out of his body, enveloping the entire vessel with a dark aura of chakra. His nails were becoming claws, just like Midori's had, and his eyes became a solid black. A single black streak appeared in his naturally white hair.

_**I didn't think that this would happen... **_Zagi thought, his eyes widening as he slowly backed away from Keiji and Midori. Midori was a Jinchuuriki, so it's possible that injecting her with the drug put her into a state where the seal, which kept the Kyuubi inside of her, would weaken and the chakra of the beast inside of her would leak out. The same thing was happening to Keiji, though, and Zagi understood what this meant. _**The kid is a Jinchuuriki, too, and what's happening to the girl must be happening to him. He must have made contact with the Bijuu inside of him during the fight and it must have been acting as his eyes, which was why he was able to counter all of my attacks so perfectly. How, though? The Hidden Leaf Village was only supposed to have the Kyuubi. Either way, I have to retreat so I can report this, as well.  
**_

The force that was exerting from both Keiji and Midori doubled in strength and then proceeded to triple in strength. Koji was watching as his two friends underwent their transformations. He was holding a quiet Baúl and backing away. The trees surrounding them were being pushed back. Koji was afraid that they might get torn out of the ground from the power that was being exerted.

Keiji and Midori both looked over to Zagi. Keiji smirked a vicious smirk as his body disappeared from sight, reappearing by where his kusarigama was on the ground. He quickly picked it up and disappeared again, reappearing in front of Zagi. Keiji now held the sickle by the handle in the air above his head.

"_**Osen sa reta Tsuki..." **_Keiji growled, the black aura engulfing the sickle as well. He slashed on a diagonal angle to the left, the sickle cutting into Zagi's chest. The black aura of chakra pushed him away from the blade as soon as the slash was made on his chest. Zagi screamed as he was launched through the air and into a nearby tree trunk.

Keiji then turned to Koji, who Midori was already starting to walk towards. Koji was still backing away, not sure if he should make any sudden movements. They were under the influence of a Bijuu's chakra. If they wanted to, they could easily catch him. A Bijuu's chakra could typically enhance the strength, speed, chakra, and reflexes of a Jinchuuriki. It could turn them into ridiculous powerhouses.

Keiji and Midori moved closer and closer to Koji. Keiji was moving a bit faster than Midori, but they both reached him at about the same time. Midori held her clawed hand up and Keiji held his kusarigama up, both intending to slash Koji.

Koji looked down at Baúl in the last few moments before Keiji and Midori would execute their attacks. Koji wouldn't be able to defend Baúl from either of these two, like they were now. There was only one thing that he could do in this situation.

Turning to his left, Koji dropped Baúl onto the ground. "Baúl. Get away from here." he said. Baúl didn't respond with a bark or a whine. He simply shook his head and stood his ground, refusing to leave Koji's side. Koji wanted to tell Baúl to leave, again, but knew that there was no point. If they were going to die here, they would die together.

Keiji swung the sickle down at Koji's throat and Midori swung her claws down at Koji's chest. Just before the attacks could connect with their targets, they were stopped.

Yasuo was standing in the space between Keiji and Koji, both hands gripped around the arm that Keiji used to execute his attack. Kurizu was standing behind Keiji. He had Keiji's other arm twisted around his back. Takeshi had both of Midori's arms held behind her back. Both attacks had been effectively stopped.

"Keiji... You're always causing trouble wherever you go, aren't you..." Yasuo said, struggling to hold back Keiji's arm.

"Keiji! Snap out of it!" Kurizu yelled from behind the white haired boy. The power that had been emanating from both Keiji and Midori had died down.

Takeshi didn't bother trying to speak to Midori. Right now, she was under the influence of the Kyuubi's chakra. Speaking to her probably wouldn't do much of any good. The Leaf Village had prepared for this, though. After moving Midori's arms together so her wrists were overlapping, he grabbed both wrists with one hand. With the free hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. The paper had a single word on it, and it read _**Seal. **_Takeshi reached around and put the slip of paper on Midori's forehead. Almost immediately, the Kyuubi's chakra began to recede and all of the signs of the transformation(the claws, the red feline eyes, etc) except for the black whiskers disappeared, too.

The chakra that had enveloped Keiji receded on its own. The claws and the black eyes all disappeared. The only remnant of the transformation that was left was the black streak in his hair. Both Keiji and Midori passed out as soon as the chakra had fully receded.

Takeshi handed Midori's limp body over to Yasuo and Kurizu held Keiji. Takeshi instructed Yasuo to keep the slip of paper pressed onto her forehead for at least ten more minutes. Then he went over to Koji.

"Where is the person you three were fighting?" Takeshi asked. Koji looked confused, as if the answer to that question should have been obvious. He looked past Takeshi over to the tree, which had some blood on it. Zagi's body, which had been laying at the base of the tree mere minutes ago, was gone.

"He must have gotten away. We can still catch him if we-" Koji began.

"No. Our priority is returning you three to the village. You'll give us a description of him and a more experienced team will be sent after him. Let's go, now."

Koji reached down and gathered Baúl into his arms. Takeshi walked with Koji and Baúl, Yasuo with Midori, and Kurizu with Keiji. The seven of them started back towards the village.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

1

Zagi staggered through the woods with his hand over the wound on his chest. The bleeding of his nose had stopped maybe ten minutes ago, but he wasn't entirely sure that it was a good sign. The wounds had been open since the fight with those three kids about an hour ago. If anything, he was sure that they had both gotten infected. Medical Ninjutsu could probably still treat it, but where was he going to find a medical shinobi out here?

He spat up a wad of mucus and blood as he walked. Being slammed into a tree by that kid must have done something to his insides, as well. He had been spitting up blood ever since he made his escape. He couldn't allow himself to die out here, though. He had to return and deliver his updated report to the higher-ups. The Hidden Leaf Village had either gotten their hands on a Bijuu from one of the other nations or there was now a tenth Jinchuuriki.

"The drug..." Zagi mumbled, still holding onto the syringe. The needle had snapped off at some point, but some trace amounts of the liquid drug still remained inside of the syringe. Zagi thought back to the fight with the three kids. After he had used the drug on the white haired boy and the girl, they had both been affected by it almost immediately. They had meant to attack their own ally while in that state, but then the chakra leaked out. The drug had somehow managed to weaken the seals of the two Jinchuuriki enough to allow some of their demon's chakra to leak out. It was unprecedented. "...it was so perfect."

Because of this little unexpected interruption, the overall plan had managed to jump ahead a few steps. Testing the drug on a Jinchuuriki was not supposed to be done until after the drug was tested on a normal person. The drug worked exactly as it was supposed to, though. It managed to draw out the Bijuu's chakra and turn the Jinchuuriki into monsters.

Zagi spit up another wad of blood and leaned back against a tree. He wasn't going to make it. The base was still a day's walking distance away from where he was, which seemed like the middle of nowhere to Zagi in the state of near delirium that he was in. At the speed which Zagi could move, it would probably take multiple days to reach it. With a deep slash on his chest, he would probably bleed out before he reached there. He got lucky with the slash, though. If it had been any deeper, his insides would have probably met the outside world for the first time.

Groaning as he leaned against the tree, Zagi closed his eyes. He thought that maybe the rest of his allies would learn about the tenth Jinchuuriki on their own. Or maybe the kid would just up and die from some freak accident. He groaned again. That would be wonderful. He could just die here without regrets, but that was not going to be the case.

"You're not giving up, are you Zagi?"

The voice seemed to come from the shadows of the trees surrounding Zagi. He felt relieved and fearful at the sound of this voice. It was a voice that Zagi knew too well.

"What are you doing here?" Zagi asked, pushing himself off of the tree. Usually, with his perception he would have been able to easily locate where the voice had come from. His vision was slightly blurred and he was in too much pain to focus on something as trivial as that.

A figure stepped out from behind Zagi and put its hand on his shoulder. "Watching you. To see if you'd mess this up or not." the figure said. The voice sounded as though it belonged to a sly man, one who considered his words carefully before speaking them. "You did a lot better than any of us expected, though. Who knew that the Hidden Leaf Village would have _two _Jinchuuriki?"

This enraged Zagi. The man had probably been watching him since before the fight with the three kids. He could have jumped in and helped him out so Zagi wouldn't have had to receive injuries such as these.

"It's troubling. Which Jinchuuriki could the boy be? All nine of the Bijuu are already sealed inside of other people. I ruled out the possibility of splitting the Kyuubi's chakra between two people. Both chakra were too different..." Zagi thought out loud, shaking his head as he spoke. "Anyway... the drug worked perfectly. It caused the chakra to leak out of their bodies and turned them into monstrosities. Now, help me get back to the base. I'll never make it on my own."

"That isn't why I stepped out of the shadows." the man said abruptly, removing his hand from Zagi's shoulder. He stepped back and turned towards Zagi. "You are a weak link. You could barely stand up to three Genin. You have no place in this organization."

Before Zagi could question or object, the man lodged a kunai knife into the side of his head, instantly killing Zagi. He grabbed Zagi's body by the throat as it started to fall to the ground.

"I've got your verbal report and killed the incompetent messenger. _That _is why I stepped out." the man said, his body disappearing into the darkness with Zagi's corpse.

2

Everything was dark for Keiji for quite a while after the incident involving Zagi. He and Midori had both been immediately hospitalized upon returning to the Hidden Leaf Village and the drug inside of their bodies had been flushed out. The Bijuu's chakra that had leaked out of their bodies had put such a strain on them that they had to remain in the hospital. Midori had woken up a few hours after having the drug flushed out of her system. Keiji, however, did not. He remained in a sleep-like state until the following day.

During this sleep-like state, Keiji had been taken to a place within his own mind by the being who he referred to as _the voice. _It was a very dark place and resembled the inside of a flooded cave. He was standing in the center of the cave with water up to his knees. The ground that Keiji was standing on felt soft, which could simply be from the water that he was standing in. He could see stalagmites dripping with water and mostly concealed by the darkness around the room. The air reeked of death, too.

He knew it was a place inside of his mind. He had never been to this place before, but it just seemed fitting. He also knew what he would find, here.

"Hello?" Keiji called out, his voice echoing around the mostly empty room. The echo scared Keiji a bit, but he built up the nerve to call out again. "Are... Are you there?" For a moment, Keiji thought he felt the soft ground beneath him move. The cave was rumbling, bearing a slight resemblance to an aftershock.

"**Good. You're here.**" the voice said, the room moving as it did before again. Keiji was positive that he wouldn't fall from the movement of the cave, mostly because his feet felt as if they were rooted to the ground. "**I brought you here to provide you with an... explanation.**" The room stopped moving as the voice stopped speaking.

_**It's almost as if the room is speaking to me. It moves whenever the voice starts talking, almost like its some giant mouth or something. **_Keiji thought with a chuckle. He didn't know how he could possibly laugh in a situation like this, but he just did slightly.

"An explanation of what? Where I am or who you are?" Keiji asked, pushing the thoughts of laughter to the back of his mind.

**"The latter.** **Do you understand what a Bijuu is?**"

"Of course. It's a demon with extraordinary power, right?"

**"Wrong. A Bijuu is a mass of chakra given consciousness. There are currently nine other Bijuu that exist in your world. Many years ago, the Rikudo Sennin divided my power up into nine separate entities. I ****was a massive mass of chakra given consciousness and he divided me into nine different beings, the Bijuu as you know them, and gave each of them their own consciousness. I was known as the Juubi. I was what existed before the nine Bijuu were created."**

"Wait..." Keiji said, feeling unsure about what he was being told. He had heard about the Juubi before, in regards to the Fourth Great Shinobi War. The older villagers talked about it constantly, so it was hard not to know about it. Some guy named Tobi had resurrected the Juubi during that war, but Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha had taken it down. If they had taken it down, then how did it exist inside of him, a boy who had been born at least a century after those events. On top of that, if the other Bijuu exist separately now, how could the Juubi exist? "How are you inside of me, then?"

**"When one gathers all nine of the Bijuu together, one can resurrect me. This was done in the Fourth Great Shinobi War by a man named Tobi. He had intended to use my power to send the entire world into an infinite Genjutsu. I was defeated by the former Kyuubi Jinchuuriki Naruto Uzumaki and his friend during that war. I was defeated because I was incomplete. Tobi had used only a portion of the Kyuubi's chakra and a portion of the Hachibi's chakra to resurrect me, so I was not at full strength."**

** "Each of my ten tails contained a massive amount of chakra. The first nine tails contained the chakra from the nine Bijuu. The tenth tail contained my own unique chakra. When Naruto Uzumaki defeated me, he did what the Rikudo Sennin did and divided my power up again. Naruto Uzumaki divided my power up into ten different entities, however, and he probably did it without knowing, too."**

"Each tail became a Bijuu?" Keiji asked, not the least bit frightened about the fact that he was talking to the most powerful of all of the Bijuu. "So, you were reincarnated as that tenth Bijuu, then?"

**"Exactly. Because I was incomplete, however, my own unique chakra was too weak to sustain a set form. I was just a shapeless mass of chakra floating through the air, at that point. I needed to hide away and gather my strength so I could become a full Bijuu, so I inhabited the body of a young woman and used the power that I had to create a temporary seal. I did not want any of my chakra to leak out, so I had to seal myself away."**

** "I remained there for years going completely undetected. Right before the woman gave birth to her daughter, I moved from her and into the child, sealing myself inside of it. I got lucky. I would have only been able to do this if I was sealed inside of a woman, and each vessel gave birth to a daughter that I could pass into at least once. When I passed into your mother, she only gave birth to a son. She was showing signs of a severe illness at the time, and I knew that this would be my only chance to move on. I passed from her and into you, sealing myself inside of you and hoping that I had gathered enough strength to become a full Bijuu."**

** "I was awakened when that dreadful drug entered your body for the first time. It was a small amount of it, but it was enough to excite my chakra."**

Keiji, completely unfazed by the mentioning of his mother, assumed that the Juubi was referring to when the hounds had bitten him and some of the drug had gotten into his own blood.

**"Then when even more of that drug was pumped into your body, I couldn't control my chakra and it slipped through the seal that I had created and started to leak out of your body."**

Keiji knew that this was from one of the most recent events. Zagi had injected a lot more of the drug into him with the syringe during their fight.

"Why are you telling me all of this? Couldn't you have just stayed dormant or gone somewhere else?" Keiji asked. "Wouldn't that have been easier for you?"

"**A good portion of my chakra leaked out of your body and did not return. Because of that, I'm too weak to exist outside of a host. If it somehow leaks out again, a good portion of it will not return. All that I need from you is two things: One, to avoid getting any more of that drug inside of your body. It weakens my seal and allows my chakra to escape from your body more easily. Two, to allow me to stay sealed inside of you. In return, I can lend you my power when you require it."**

"I don't have a problem with helping you out. You don't seem like a bad guy and you're offering me power. If you try to take control of me or hurt my friends, though, I'll stop you. You can be sure of that." Keiji said with some uncertainty. "...how do you think people would react to finding out that the Juubi is sealed inside of me, though?"

The Juubi did not respond to this. In all honesty, it was unsure. The people of this time were on much better terms with the Jinchuuriki, so they might be accepting of it. It did literally almost cause the world to end, though, but that was over a hundred years ago. Overall, it was a complicated situation.

"Well, I'm sure I'll figure something out. I would really like to be able to use your power. I'm really weak on my own, but with you on my side, we could take anyone down." Keiji said with a grin.

**"Just be careful with it when you use it, in the future. My chakra is not like normal chakra. It is tainted and it can corrupt things. I'll show you what I mean after you recuperate."**

Keiji's vision went completely black as the Juubi sent him out of this part of Keiji's mind.

3

Keiji awakened to find himself in a brightly lit room inside of a hospital. He was laying on one of the two uncomfortable beds in the room. There was a counter across from him that was littered with medical tools and supplies. A weird machine was on his right and a small desk was on his left. There were some clear tubes connected to his arms and chest. He had noticed the tubes right away and thought that it would be best to not try and sit up. Doing so might yank them out of him or something, and that couldn't have good results.

Instead, Keiji shifted his head and looked over to the other bed. Midori lay in the second uncomfortable bed. Her hands were behind her head and her eyes were open. She was staring up at the ceiling, appearing to be thinking about something.

_**That did just happen, right? The Juubi is sealed inside of me? **_Keiji thought, hoping that it would speak up and answer his mental question. It didn't. It was probably resting, trying to gather up its strength again. Either that or Keiji had merely dreamed the whole meeting up and was actually going crazy. This caused Keiji to let out a sigh, which caused Midori to realize that he was awake.

"Keiji. You're awake. Are you alright?" Midori asked after turning to look at the boy. Her eyes were almost drawn to the odd black streak in his hair which hadn't been there before yesterday.

Keiji let out a chuckle. Typical Midori, being concerned about someone else even when she is laying in a hospital bed, too. "Yeah. I'm all good. What about you?" Keiji asked, looking at her. She didn't have any bandages on her body anywhere, so her injuries couldn't have been too severe. Midori also had a few tubes connected to parts of her body, like Keiji did.

Midori nodded as if to silently say that she was fine and Keiji nodded in response to her nod. Midori went on looking at the ceiling and being submerged into her own thoughts. Keiji looked up at the ceiling, too.

_**Midori's a Jinchuuriki and I'm one too, now... **_Keiji thought, looking from the ceiling down to Midori. _**Maybe I could ask her for tips or advice or something...**_

After debating it with himself mentally, whether he should ask her for advice or not, Keiji decided that it wouldn't hurt. He doubted that Midori would tell anyone, if he asked her not to... if she even believed that he was a Jinchuuriki, in the first place. Even though he wasn't sure that the Kyuubi tried to speak to her like the Juubi spoke to him, she could still provide some insight.

"Midori. Can you tell me what it's like being a Jinchuuriki?" he asked, cautiously sitting up on the bed. He moved slowly and managed to avoid yanking the tubes out of his arms and chest. He was sitting in a slightly uncomfortable position, now, but it was better than laying down. He decided that he wasn't going to outright say that he was a Jinchuuriki. He would just ask her questions about being one.

Midori looked at Keiji oddly, wondering what brought on his question. She contemplated and considered a way to respond for about a minute before answering.

"I was told that I was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki when I was six years old. I didn't understand what that meant, even when my parents explained it to me. I was too young and all that I learned from being told that was that I was different from other people." Midori explained, sitting up just like Keiji had. She looked down at the bed when she spoke. "When I was eight, they tried to explain it to me again. They told me that the Kyuubi was a giant, strong fox that had been sealed inside of me. They told me that it was like having another person with me at all times. He could help me out, if he wanted to, and he could speak to me, if he wanted to. If he lent me his power, I could be really strong. That was what they told me and I didn't want to believe it. I didn't want to believe that I could be such a different... freak."

"I thought that everyone would hate me for having a monster sealed inside of me. I thought that everyone in the village would hate me for being different, but no one treated me badly. Everyone was just as nice as they would have been if I hadn't been made into a Jinchuuriki. I grew to accept the Kyuubi and tried to learn more about it. I learned that Naruto, one of the old Hokages, had the Kyuubi sealed inside of him. That made me want to speak with him so I could learn more, but he never established contact with me. I started to think that the Kyuubi didn't like me or that he was disappointed because he had been sealed inside of me. He actually made contact with me a few hours ago, while I was sleeping."

_**Just like the Juubi had done with me, only at an earlier time. **_Keiji thought, nodding.

"We talked about Naruto and about the experiences that the Kyuubi had with him and about how Naruto had changed him. You know, the Kyuubi has a pretty rough personality. He could come across cocky and arrogant, but I think it's an act. Apparently, his name is Kurama... I have to get used to calling him that. We made a deal, too. As long as I refuse to give up, he would lend me his chakra whenever I need it."

Keiji nodded, seeming to be mulling over what Midori had told him. Apparently, being a Jinchuuriki wasn't as bad as it used to be. He began to think that maybe coming out and telling everyone that he was a Jinchuuriki too wouldn't be a terrible idea.

"Kurama and I..." Midori continued, drawing Keiji's eyes and ears back over to her. "...we also talked about you."

Keiji's eyes widened as Midori said this. Did the Kyuubi know about the Juubi inside of him, or did Midori just bring Keiji up to the Kyuubi?

"What did you two talk about?" Keiji asked, a wave of nervousness coming over him.

"Kurama said that he sensed his own chakra inside of you, and a pretty decent amount of it, too. He said that it was strange that you would have some of his chakra, but that it wasn't impossible."

_**When one gathers all nine of the Bijuu together, one can resurrect me...**_

_** Each of my ten tails contained a massive amount of chakra... The first nine tails contained the chakra from the nine Bijuu...**_

The words of the Juubi during their prior conversation answered Keiji's unasked question as to how he could have the chakra of the Kyuubi inside of him. The Juubi was made up of the nine Bijuu, or rather their chakra, which included the Kyuubi. The Juubi's unique chakra was probably a combination of portions of the other Bijuu's chakra, so Keiji would technically have the Kyuubi's chakra inside of him, as well.

"This is so complicated." Keiji said, closing his eyes and sighing. "Maybe the Ky- I mean, maybe Kurama is mistaken."

"Hm. Maybe." Midori said in response, not truly believing what she had spoken. She trusted Kurama, to an extent. Not only that, but even Midori sensed something strange about Keiji. She and Kurama discussed this. There was a chance that her transformation last night could have caused some of Kurama's chakra to go to Keiji since he was in such a close proximity and since he had been affected by the drug, too. The chakra could have caused Keiji to undergo a similar transformation and the chakra could now remain inside of Keiji's body. Midori had disproved this theory easily.

_If Keiji had transformed from your chakra, wouldn't the chakra coming from his body have been red too instead of black?_

They had considered the possibility of Keiji being a Jinchuuriki, too, but the Kyuubi would be able to tell if there was a Bijuu inside of Keiji. Bijuu can communicate with one another, even when they're both sealed within a host, as long as they're close enough to communicate. If there was anything there to communicate with inside of Keiji, the Kyuubi would be able to sense it.

The Juubi's seal prevented people from distinguishing its chakra. Its chakra was disguised as normal chakra, so to outsiders it would just seem as though Keiji had a lot of chakra inside of his body. A Bijuu or a Jinchuuriki would be able to sense their respective chakra inside of Keiji, regardless of the seal, but they wouldn't be able to tell that the Juubi was inside of Keiji.

Keiji lay back down on the bed and closed his eyes. _**I must be weird. Most people would be freaking out after finding out that they have a Bijuu inside of them... I think it's pretty cool. **_He thought. He began to think of who could possibly know, or figure out, that he was a Jinchuuriki. First off, the man Zagi. Assuming that being slashed across the chest with a sickle hadn't killed him, he could figure out that Keiji was a Jinchuuriki. He had watched the development the entire time. Midori and Koji would be able to figure it out, for obvious reasons. Kurizu, Yasuo, and Takeshi had shown up to bring them back to the village, so they might be able to figure it out since they witnessed Keiji's transformation firsthand.

_**I guess keeping it a secret is hopeless. I'll tell Kurizu and Yasuo the next time I see either of them... Takeshi-sensei can figure it out on his own. I don't trust him... **_Keiji thought before suddenly becoming aware of how tired he still was. It wouldn't hurt to try to get some more sleep. He would probably get hounded for running off on his own later by Takeshi.

Keiji lay on the bed thinking about the Juubi as he drifted back into a deep sleep.

4

Keiji awoke later in the afternoon of the same day to find all three of his teammates sitting in chairs across from his bed. Midori was no longer in the bed next to his. It wasn't surprising. Now that things were moving along, the medics probably wanted them separated in order to give them their own space.

Kurizu appeared to be nodding off, his head resting on his hand with the respective elbow being used as support on the arm of the chair. Both Yasuo and Takeshi looked at Keiji as he sat up, both of them clearly more attentive than Kurizu was at the moment.

Keiji figured that they would want to talk to him about yesterday. Yasuo would probably be more interested in the chakra that had been enveloping his body and Takeshi would, naturally, be more interested in why Keiji had disobeyed orders.

"Hey guys." Keiji said with a nervous smile. He was avoiding making contact with either of them again, as it would just make him more nervous. Takeshi was the first of the group to speak.

"When we realized that you left the village yesterday, the three of us went after you immediately." Takeshi started, ignoring Keiji's greeting. "You were easy enough to track down. I told you not to go after this person, not just because of rules and regulations, but mainly because you're a Genin. What could a Genin possibly hope to-"

This was where Yasuo made a noise with his throat to interrupt Takeshi. He looked at him with narrowed eyes, silently telling him to stop talking. In this one instance, Takeshi listened to his student and stopped talking.

"I told him not to yell at you about disobeying him before we got here. You don't respond well to that." Yasuo said, standing up from his seat. Takeshi stopped trying to formulate sentences that would not involve Keiji's disobedience and let Yasuo take over. "Why did you go off and get Koji and Midori involved with this? Why did you even go and try to hunt this guy down in the first place?"

"Because he poisoned all of those dogs." Keiji answered bluntly, not liking where this was going at all. This was turning into some kind of makeshift interrogation. "And I only asked Koji about who he thought did it. I didn't trick them into coming with me. They came with me of their own free will."

"So, what did you three think that you would be able to-"

"Four."

"What? Who else went with you?"

"Baúl did."

Yasuo sighed and closed his eyes briefly. "What did you _four _think that you would be able to do, then? The Hokage would've sent Jonin after the guy-"

"And by then, it would've been too late! He would've gotten away and trying to find and capture him would've been pointless. After losing him, the team of Jonin and the Hokage would've lost interest, anyway. The victims were only dogs, after all."

A silence existed between the two boys for a few moments before Yasuo spoke up again.

"How did the fight go?" Keiji was actually surprised that Yasuo moved on from the previous topic so quickly.

"It started out badly. Me, Koji, Baúl, and Midori all attacked him at the same time but he kept countering everything so perfectly. We thought he had a Kekkei Genkai, but it just turned out to be some cheap trick." Keiji explained. Kurizu was now blinking away the remnants of sleep, sitting up in his chair and listening to Keiji speak. "We- I mean, I started using the same trick and I was winning, but then he used the drug on me and Midori. It... made us go crazy."

"Did the drug make that black chakra come out of you?" Kurizu piped up. Yasuo narrowed his eyes to Kurizu, as if that had been a topic they were trying to avoid. Kurizu looked to Yasuo and shrugged, as if he had no idea they were trying to avoid that topic. Keiji's eyes widened for a split second when the question was asked. He quickly regained his composure and answered the question.

"Well... yeah, it did. I'll explain it to you two whenever I get out of here." Keiji said, looking away from them again. "When is that, by the way?"

"We wanted you kept in here longer, to investigate the black chakra that was around your body when we showed up." Takeshi said, finally having a turn to speak. "We had the medics check you for any signs of the chakra, but it seemed to have disappeared completely. Your chakra is abnormal, in regard to the amount which you have, but it could just be an effect from the black chakra. Anyway, since they couldn't find anything to examine, you're being released soon. In the next hour or so."

"And my punishment?" Keiji asked with a groan.

"Your punishment was the result of your disobedience." Takeshi began, standing up from his seat alongside Yasuo. "The man who you had gone after escaped, making all of your efforts pointless. I obtained a description of the man from Koji and the Hokage has already dispatched a team of more experienced shinobi to apprehend him."

Keiji's flesh grew cold and his mouth hung open as he heard this. "Zagi... He got away?" Keiji asked, any traces of his defiant nature now gone. This was the first he was hearing of this. He clearly remembered launching Zagi into a tree. How could anyone have gotten up after that? "Alright. That's fair..."

Takeshi decided that this would be the best time to take his leave. He said goodbye to his three students, telling them that they'll be meeting up again tomorrow at their usual place. He left the room and the hospital itself, not long after. Both Kurizu and Yasuo waited in the room with Keiji. They talked about random things that three friends would typically talk about merely to pass the time until Keiji was released from the hospital. Both Kurizu and Yasuo wanted to see what Keiji had to show them regarding the black chakra.

5

An hour passed quickly and Keiji had been released from the hospital. His father had showed up to take him home, but Keiji insisted on going with his friends. After making sure that there was nothing else wrong with his son, Kohaku let Keiji go.

Keiji, Yasuo, and Kurizu walked to the Third Training Grounds. For something like what Keiji was going to show them, they would need to go to a place where not a lot of people typically are. Keiji wasn't even entirely sure if anything was going to happen, but the Juubi had told him that its chakra is tainted and that it was going to show Keiji what it meant later.

He wanted to explain the situation regarding the Juubi to Yasuo and Kurizu on the way to the Third Training Grounds, but he knew that it would make him seem crazy and that his friends would be less likely to want to go with him. They reached their destination soon enough and Keiji quickly got into position.

In the center of the Training Grounds, there was a relatively small body of water. On one side of the body of water, there was a stone wall, and on the other side, there was a metal fence and a glossy black memorial stone. Keiji stood directly in front of this body of water on the side that had the fence, facing Kurizu and Yasuo who were standing in front of him. In order to get this started, Keiji would need to first get the Juubi's attention and he would also need the Juubi to lend him some of its chakra.

_**Juubi? **_Keiji mentally called out to the Bijuu within him. Kurizu and Yasuo simply watched him, both of them slightly confused.

_**Hm? **_The Juubi responded after a moment of silence.

_**Can you show me that thing about your chakra being tainted, or whatever it was you said? **_

_**Alright. I'm going to lend you a bit of my chakra, first. Then, I want you to use a jutsu.**_

Keiji nodded to the Juubi's instructions and mentally prepared himself for what was going to happen. Yasuo and Kurizu still had no idea what was going on.

"Do you think he was just bluffing?" Kurizu asked Yasuo. Yasuo shrugged his shoulders and kept his eyes on Keiji.

It took a few moments, but the dark chakra started to leak out of Keiji's body again. Instead of forming an aura around his body, though, the chakra became thicker and thicker and started to look more like a goo. It molded itself around Keiji's body, forming a dark cloak around him. At his rear, a single tail began to form out of the chakra cloak. On top of gaining a chakra cloak, Keiji's eyes also became a solid black once again. This time, however, his pupils had become white and could be seen through the blackness. His fingernails became claws and his teeth became fangs once again, but he felt normal. He didn't feel as though he wanted to attack anything that came into his sight.

_**In the past, most Bijuu would lend a host their chakra in an attempt to take control of the **__**Jinchuuriki's body. I have no interest in controlling you. The last time, my chakra acted on its own in response to that drug. The combination of my chakra and the drug caused you to have no control of your actions. Now, however, you should be able to control yourself under the influence of my chakra, **_the Juubi explained in Keiji's mind as the transformation completed itself. Both Yasuo and Kurizu simply watched this in awe as Keiji transformed. _**Now, try and use a jutsu. You should notice that it's different when you're using my chakra.**_

"Watch this, guys." Keiji said, his voice sounding a bit as though he was underwater. The words that he said were understandable, but his voice just sounded a bit different.

Turning around and away from his two friends, Keiji made the hand seals for _Suiton: Todoroku Nami. _He cast the final hand seal and water was drawn from the air into a sphere. The sphere was almost quadruple its normal size, though. Keiji managed to condense the sphere by releasing some of the water from it, having it fall down into the body of water below the sphere. When it was back to its normal size, Keiji launched the sphere of water through the air and sent it at the rock wall that was across from him. The first thing that he had noticed was that he didn't need to create that small explosive reaction at the back of the sphere, but it launched with even more power and speed than usual anyway.

The second thing that Keiji had noticed happened when the sphere made contact with the rock wall. The sphere of water exploded violently when it hit the wall, breaking the top off with unnecessary ease and sending chunks of stone and debris raining down onto the ground. The sound that had been made when the water sphere crashed into the rock wall sounded like the sound that is made when one pours cold water on an extremely hot object, but only amplified.

Yasuo and Kurizu's eyes were widened and their mouths hung open. As if the transformation hadn't been enough, apparently the chakra gave him some kind of ridiculous power that made it so he could destroy stone walls with ease.

"Oh hell..." Yasuo murmured, watching the last of the rubble fall to the ground. What remained of the rock wall was drenched with steaming water. "Keiji..."

"How... Where did you get that kind of power from?" Kurizu asked. He watched as the chakra that was around Keiji's body began to recede, seeming to seep back in through the pores in his flesh. When the chakra was gone and the altered features returned back to normal, even Keiji was amazed by what had happened.

_**Wow! The chakra might as well have turned it into a completely different technique! **_Keiji thought, a fanged grin forming on his face.

After regaining his composure, he explained everything to them. He told them about how Naruto Uzumaki had created this Juubi incarnation. He told them about how the Juubi made its way through his ancestors and into his body. He told them about how the Juubi had been with him this entire time, but the drug from the dogs had awakened it. He told them about how the Juubi had made contact with Keiji during the fight with Zagi. He told them about how the second dose of the drug caused the Juubi's chakra to leak out for the first time. He told them that the black chakra increases his abilities when he uses them. Keiji told them everything.

If Keiji had explained all of this to them before the little demonstration, they probably wouldn't have believed him. Yasuo and Kurizu got to see the power and the chakra firsthand. They didn't understand how it was possible, but they believed that Keiji was a Jinchuuriki. Partly, this was because they had witnessed Keiji undergoing a transformation. The other part was because Keiji was their friend, and they trusted that he wouldn't lie to them about something like this.

After they came to terms with Keiji being a Jinchuuriki, Keiji asked them to keep it a secret, which Kurizu and Yasuo agreed to do. Afterward, they moved on from the Jinchuuriki subject to a different one.

"So. What does Takeshi-sensei want us for tomorrow? Is it a mission?" Keiji asked, hoping that he was right. A mission would definitely be a good way to transition from yesterday's madness.

To Keiji's dismay, Yasuo shook his head. "I think it's some kind of training exercise we're doing or something." Yasuo explained, shrugging his shoulders.

Training sounded extremely boring to Keiji, but if it involved him fighting against Yasuo or Kurizu or even Takeshi, then it could be fun.


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

1

Squad Three met up the following day by the bench that was near the village gates. Keiji now referred to this spot as Squad Three's Base, even though it was anything but that. Most people who were over by the village gates were either on their way out of the village or on their way into the village, so neither group really had the time to sit on this bench. They were usually on their way somewhere. This was exactly why this spot had been chosen as Squad Three's meeting area by Takeshi.

The group met here for about ten minutes. Takeshi had explained to them that this training would be in preparation for future missions, as teamwork is always essential. Keiji, Kurizu, and Yasuo would have to work together to try to take down Takeshi and his clones. Takeshi's clones would be created through the use of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, though, so they could actually deal damage and land physical attacks. This excited Keiji, a bit. He had wondered what Takeshi would be capable of. Kurizu assumed that he knew a bit of Medical Ninjutsu, as he had used a technique to draw the toxins out of blood before, but that didn't hint towards the man's fighting skills at all.

From Squad Three's Base, the team departed and headed for the Third Training Grounds. This was where the training exercise would be held. It didn't surprise any of the three Genin. When they reached the Training Grounds, Takeshi took another ten minutes explaining to them what he wanted them to do. He noted that there were large chunks of stone scattered across the grass on one half of the training grounds and decided to move the fight to a different area. They headed into the thicket of trees behind them and walked for a good five minutes before finding another clearing. When they reached this clearing, Takeshi resumed his explanation of the exercise.

"Even the weak can take down a stronger foe if they work together well enough." Takeshi had said, unaware that he had just referred to his own squad as weak. None of the Genin were too concerned with that, though. They were mostly looking forward to winning. "This isn't going to be some simple exercise. Forget trying to land a single hit. In order to successfully pass it in my eyes, you have to take me down. Understood?"

Keiji nodded. Since he met the guy, Keiji never really liked Takeshi. There was something strange about him that was still unclear to Keiji. After all of the times when Takeshi had talked down to Keiji, insinuated that he was incompetent or slow, and wouldn't let Keiji do as he pleased, Keiji grew somewhat angry at the man and essentially wanted to hit him. This was the perfect opportunity. He wanted to use the Juubi's help with this fight.

The Juubi's chakra was a large power enhancer. It could help him to surpass limits which Keiji didn't even know existed. He didn't care if the power was tainted or if it would corrupt him. As long as it didn't kill him and as long as he could use it for what he wanted to accomplish, he would use the power. Keiji wanted to be strong enough to help others. He didn't say it directly during Squad Three's first meeting, but the words which he had spoken were based on a small seed of truth.

_**I'm Keiji Jakunen, master of the kusarigama and the water element! Everywhere I go, people quake in fear of the mere mentioning of my name. I cut down all villains with my sickle, not even having to use a single jutsu! I like to beat up enemies and save innocents from their terror. I hate nothing, because true heroes have no hate in their hearts. My goal is to eradicate all things evil.**_

__Keiji hated to see those that are weak get pushed around or hurt. There was absolutely no reason why anyone should feel any need to hurt those that are weaker than themselves, in Keiji's mind anyway. This is why he has such a soft spot for animals. Animals can be viewed as being weaker than most humans and they're often the victims of humans and their needs. With power, Keiji would be able to protect the weak, whether it was his own power that he used or another person's power. With the Juubi's chakra, this could be achieved very easily.

Yasuo was ready for this fight. Over the past few days since their Graduation Exam, he had gotten over a part of himself that was ashamed to use his own... abilities. He had not put the ten summoning seals on his body himself. They had been a _gift _from somebody and using the seals reminded Yasuo of that somebody. He didn't want to use the seals in front of anybody else, out of a fear that they might question where or how he had gotten them. Ever since the Graduation Exam, where he had revealed Kuroi Kiba to his entire former class, he felt that there was no need to hide his skills from anybody anymore. The summoning seals were a powerful weapon in their own right. It would be insane not to use them.

Unlike Keiji and Yasuo, Kurizu was not entirely ready for this fight. Yasuo was already an awesome Genin and Keiji was a Jinchuuriki. Kurizu didn't have any special skills other than the Bariagan, which he didn't even know how to activate. The first time the Kekkei Genkai had activated, it had done so on its own as a response to the stressful situation. He didn't know how to activate it on his own. Kurizu wouldn't be able to combat Takeshi with Taijutsu alone, nor did he think that Takeshi is stupid enough to fall into any traps Kurizu might set. He would be nearly useless in this fight.

"We understand, Takeshi-sensei. Just prepare to get taken down." Yasuo said, mentally going over where each summoning seal was. There was the one on his right wrist that brought out Kuroi Kiba, there was one on each shin, one on his back, another on his left forearm, one on both sides of his waist, one on his right forearm, one on his left wrist, and another on the back of his neck. He had ten weapons which he could summon at will.

Takeshi barely acknowledged the threat that Yasuo had insinuated and simply made a hand seal of his own. In two separate bursts of smoke, one to his left and one to his right, two identical clones of Takeshi were created. The three Genin knew exactly what a Kage Bunshin could do. They could fight on their own with the same skills as Takeshi. Any Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, or Taijutsu that Takeshi knew could be used by them. If they sustained a single solid hit, though, they would burst into smoke and disappear.

The Kage Bunshin no Jutsu can be used to create as many clones as you desire and are capable of creating. When you create the clones, you are dividing a portion of your chakra among however many clones had been created. When a clone is defeated, your chakra does not return to you. This made the technique dangerous to use, regardless of how useful it was, unless you had a lot of chakra.

Keiji drew Hangetsu, holding the sickle out in front of him. He looked at the three Takeshi's and smirked. He was confident that he would be able to take all three of them down.

_Juubi. Want to help out with this fight? _Keiji mentally asked the other occupant that resided within his body. After a bit of silence, the Juubi agreed to help Keiji.

Yasuo made a hand seal and applied chakra to the summoning seal on his right wrist, causing Kuroi Kiba to appear in a small cloud of smoke in his right hand.

_I'll use this blade to test his abilities. Once I'm sure of what he can do, I'll switch over to __**them. **_Yasuo thought, the tip of the black blade glinting from the sunlight.

Kurizu clenched both of his fists tightly and held them up by his chest in a basic fighting stance. He wasn't entirely sure of how useful he would be in this fight, but he would certainly try his best.

_If only I knew how to activate the Bariagan... _Kurizu thought with a sigh as he looked up at Takeshi and his clones.

Takeshi could almost read the determination on the faces of his three students. He could tell that this would be a somewhat interesting fight. He would most likely come out on top, but it would be an interesting fight all the same.

The three Takeshi's all made the same exact hand seals and all of their hands started to glow with the same blue chakra. His students were good, for Genin. They understood the basics, as well as some more advanced things. They would not be able to read this technique, though. Because of that, they would likely lose within the first few moments of the fight.

The Juubi may have been able to read tells and predict movements, but it was not familiar with a lot of Ninjutsu. For this reason, it was not able to determine what technique Keiji's sensei was using, so it could not warn him of what was to come.

"Let's begin." the real Takeshi said, signaling the start of the fight with a simple hand gesture.

2

[Meanwhile...]

Things were peaceful out in the Hidden Cloud Village. The sky was virtually cloudless and children were out in the streets playing games with one another. The laughter of the children and the tranquility of the village put the Yonbi Jinchuuriki Gin at peace. The Hidden Cloudgakure was in possession of two Bijuu. They had the Yonbi, or the Four Tailed Beast, and the Gobi, or the Five Tailed Beast. The Gobi Jinchuuriki was, in fact, the current Raikage of the village. The Yonbi Jinchuuriki was the Raikage's brother.

Gin was a man in his mid thirties. He had short blond hair, bright blue eyes, light skin, and was mostly seen wearing a simple dark gray robe. He had a rope belt tied around his waist and wore dark blue shinobi sandals. His forehead protector was worn around his neck. No matter where he went, Gin could be seen holding a wooden staff which was nearly his height.

Gin respected his brother. Gin's brother, Koga, had the respect of most, if not all, of the entire village. Since Gin was his brother, most people respected him as well. Even at a young age, Gin respected his brother and would do just about anything to help him get further.

When he and his brother were born, they had the Bijuu sealed within them. With the help of the Yonbi, Gin managed to make it to the rank of Jonin. By that time, Koga was already a candidate to become the Raikage. The Gobi allowed him to fluently use all five elements and also helped him to be a Genjutsu expert, as the Gobi allowed him to instinctively detect them. These traits alone made Koga the most likely person in the entire village to become the Raikage.

The Raikage was a symbol of power. Only the exceptionally strong could become one. Being able to use all five chakra natures when a typical shinobi can only use two or three, tops, made Koga exceptionally strong. Gin was the opposite of the Raikage. Gin was a symbol of peace. He went out of his way to help others and settle petty conflicts that arose in the village. Gin used the Yonbi's abilities to help maintain the peace whenever a threat to the village came up. He was probably what Keiji would view as a true hero.

Gin was resting just outside of his village near the ocean. He was sitting on a large black rock that floated in the water in the ocean. The rock was like a miniature stone island in the ocean, but it was relatively close to the shore.

The ocean was probably ten minutes south of the Hidden Cloud village if one walked there at a casual pace, so it was visited pretty often by villagers. Children often came out here to play in the water or on the sand with their parents. Gin found the environment here to be very relaxing, what with the waves coming in and going out and the serenity that the laughter of the children brought. The sun was nice and high up in the sky, too, beating down its intense rays on the water and the sand.

Gin usually spent his time talking with the Yonbi when he visited the ocean. He didn't mind having the Yonbi sealed within him. Gin had been entrusted with the Yonbi by its former Jinchuuriki, so he had no intentions of misusing or not using its power. The Yonbi had a very interesting power which almost entirely contrasted with Gin's personality.

Two of the children who had been playing on the beach broke away from the group and ran up to where Gin was. They were standing on the shore, their feet partially in the water, at the spot nearest the rock that Gin sat on.

"Gin! Gin!" one of the kids called out, seeming overly excited. Gin knew exactly what these kids would want. Almost all of the children wanted the same thing from him. "We wanna see you make an island again. Can you? Can you?"

Gin let out a small laugh as he stood up, gripping the staff in his right hand tightly. "Of course." Gin said. "Just step back. I wouldn't want either of you to get hurt."

The kids both nodded and stepped back as they were told, watching as Gin prepared to _make an island. _

Gin set the staff down on the rock and proceeded to make five carefully executed hand seals. He may have been the Yonbi Jinchuuriki, but using this technique wasn't a simple task. The aftertaste of the technique wasn't entirely something to look forward to, either.

After he made the hand seals, Gin's mouth seemed to fill up with something. Steam and a reddish orange liquid escaped through his closed mouth through the small cracks. After holding it in for about thirty seconds, Gin spit the contents of his mouth out at the ocean. A large amount of lava was sent out of his mouth and into the ocean. As soon as the lava made contact with the water, it began to steam violently, the water bubbling profusely. After a few moments, the lava solidified and became a black stony mass in the ocean.

The children were both cheering as they watched the lava solidify in the ocean. They didn't understand why it happened or how it was possible. All that they knew was that Gin had created a black island in the ocean again.

The Yonbi gives Gin the ability to produce lava. It also gives his body a ridiculous resistance to heat, so the production of the lava does not kill him. Gin can control the temperature of the lava that he creates, so he can make it solidify at a much faster rate than it normally would. The water in the ocean would have made the lava solidify anyway, but it would've taken longer had Gin not assisted it by reducing the temperature of the lava. The power that the Yonbi gave Gin was almost entirely destructive while Gin himself was almost entirely peace-centered. This was how the Yonbi contrasted with Gin.

The children were still cheering Gin on, telling him how awesome that they thought he was. The children eventually swam out into the ocean and climbed onto the black mass of solidified lava which Gin had just created. The black island wouldn't be hot. Gin had rapidly reduced the temperature of the lava in the event that the kids would want to climb on top of it out of sheer impulse.

"You're like some kind of celebrity, aren't you Gin?" a woman spoke up from behind Gin. He knew this voice well. The voice belonged to a girl who had been friends with Gin and his brother since they were children. The woman's name was Rita. Although she was now married to Koga, the Raikage, Rita was still good friends with Gin.

"To these kids I am, at least." Gin said with a laugh, grabbing his staff and turning around to face Rita. She was standing by the shore of the ocean, just out of the reach of the waves. Considering the nice clothes that she was wearing, it was probably for the best. "What brings you here, Rita?"

The Yonbi Jinchuuriki raised his right leg and brought it down hard onto the island beneath his feet. It had been created out of solidified lava too, and he had created it in a specific way so it was mostly hollow on the inside. This made it susceptible to physical attacks. After creating a large crack in the island with his foot, Gin leaped off of the small island of solidified lava and landed on the sand, beside Rita. As soon as he regained his posture, the island which he had jumped off of began to crumble, falling apart into the ocean. The second island, the one which the kids swam out to, was still intact and would be until they grew tired of it. Koga didn't like it when Gin played around with the Yonbi's power like that, so it was best to dispose of the evidence while he could.

"Koga. He wants to discuss the upcoming Chuunin Exams with you and naturally, he asked me to tell you." Rita explained with a small sigh.

"What? He wants to talk about the Chuunin Exams this early?" Gin asked, borderline complaining. "They're still two months away. Do you know what it's about?"

"Something involving the Jinchuuriki. I'm not entirely sure. You'll have to ask him yourself, okay?" Rita replied. "If you want to meet with him now, you can come with me."

Gin decided that it would be best to see what was on his brother's mind as soon as possible, especially since it would probably directly involve him.

"Alright. Let's go, then." Gin said. Rita nodded and started walking, Gin following close behind her.

3

[Back in Konohagakure...]

The fight began with Keiji charging in at the three Takeshi's, spinning his sickle by the chain. Keiji was going to rely on the Juubi to act as a second pair of eyes and point out any potential danger from Takeshi or the other two clones. Keiji would simply have to dodge and strike when possible.

Yasuo, Kurizu, and Takeshi, as they watched Keiji charge in and prepare to attack, all thought the same exact thought.

_Idiot._

_ Idiot._

_ Idiot._

The Juubi had warned Keiji about the chakra that was around all three Takeshi's hands as he ran, but Keiji wasn't concerned.

_He's probably trying to psych us out with that and keep us from attacking him head on. It's probably nothing to worry about, _Keiji mentally spoke to the Juubi.

The Juubi proceeded to think the same thought that had gone into Yasuo, Kurizu, and Takeshi's heads.

_**Idiot.**_

__Neither of the three Takeshi's moved from their spots. They simply watched as Keiji moved in closer and closer, watching as he stopped a few feet away from them, and watching as he executed his attack with the kusarigama.

Using the momentum that had been gained from spinning the sickle, Keiji let it fly straight ahead. He sent the sickle flying directly for the middle Takeshi, knowing that taking down the real one first would result in taking down the clones, as well.

Takeshi stepped to his left and watched as the sickle flew through the empty space where he had just been standing.

The chain reached its limit and the sickle was stopped, there not being enough chain for it to keep going. This was when Keiji pulled the sickle back by the chain. The sickle came back towards Keiji, but he did not catch it by the handle. He let it continue going until the sickle was now behind him and he swung his arms, both hands now grasping onto the chain, over his head. The sickle flew over Keiji's head, going from behind him to the space in front of him, in an arc. This downward attack was aimed for where the real Takeshi now stood.

Takeshi looked up and saw the sickle being swung down from the air towards him. If this had been used against a more stupid enemy, it might have worked. All that he needed to do was step out of the way again and the sickle would plunge into the ground. It was simple.

The Juubi watched through Keiji's eyes and noticed Takeshi shift his weight onto his right leg.

_**He's going to move to the right. Catch him off guard.**_

__Keiji immediately released the chain of his kusarigama, sending it flying at a slightly faster speed down at its target. He watched as Takeshi started to move towards the right and he watched as Takeshi's gaze was fixed on the sickle. Keiji took this opportunity to sprint towards the spot where Takeshi would step. It was a somewhat short distance and Keiji reached it quickly, preparing to ram his sensei with his shoulder.

The Juubi saw as the two clones of Takeshi prepared to counter Keiji's surprise attack and promptly warned him of it.

_**The clones. One is going to move in front of you and the other is going to move behind you. Do something about them.**_

__"I got it, I got it." Keiji repeated as the first clone jumped in the way, standing in the space between Keiji and where the real Takeshi was going to move to. By now, the real Takeshi had realized what was going on, stopped moving towards the right, and stepped to the left again instead of the right, the sickle still plunging into the ground regardless. The first clone looked as though it was going to try and stop his attack somehow, looking as though it was bracing itself for the impact. Keiji knew exactly what he was going to do.

As he was running, Keiji jumped towards the first clone in front of him. He shifted his body in midair and allowed himself to completely turn around, his feet planting themselves on the torso of the first clone immediately after he spun in the air. From this position, Keiji was able to see that the second clone had in fact moved to the space behind him and was waiting for Keiji's attack to be stopped before making its move.

This next part happened quickly. Keiji pushed off of the clone and launched himself through the air directly towards the second clone. If he was able to ram into the clone like this, it would likely be enough to defeat it. That would be one less enemy that they had to worry about.

The second clone immediately dove to the right, Keiji flying through the space that it had previously occupied. He spun in midair one more time and managed to land on the ground on his feet. He was now a few feet in front of both Yasuo and Kurizu and the chain of his kusarigama ended in the space between them.

"Damn. This is complicated." Keiji said with an anticlimactic. He reached down and grabbed onto the chain, pulling the sickle out of the ground and back towards him.

Yasuo let out a heavy sigh and walked up to Keiji's right side. What he had just witnessed did in fact impress him, but it was still a hastily devised attempt.

"You were able to launch an attack at Takeshi-sensei and then counter the clones' attempt to stop you, all while launching your own attack on one of the clones. You're getting better at fighting multiple opponents." Yasuo observed, patting the back of Keiji's head one time with his hand. "It's my turn."

Yasuo was holding Kuroi Kiba with his right hand. He was looking at the three Takeshi's carefully, trying to decide which one he would attack first. All three of them had that chakra around their hands. It was something that even Yasuo was unfamiliar with.

"I'll go for the real one." Yasuo decided, figuring that the other two would jump in to assist no matter which one he attacked.

Yasuo quickly ran up to the Takeshi group. He had kept his eyes on the real Takeshi the entire time, so he knew that the one on far left was the real one. Yasuo had run up to that Takeshi and, without giving him much time to launch an attack of his own, Yasuo stopped and launched a simple diagonal slash at Takeshi.

Takeshi had stepped back to avoid the blade and quickly moved in to execute an attack of his own. It was a simple palm strike, attempted with his right hand and aimed for Yasuo's left arm.

Yasuo had no idea what being touched by that chakra engulfed hand could do to him, so he refused to allow Takeshi the chance to do it. Yasuo swung the blade from left to right, nearly slicing Takeshi's fingers off in the process. Takeshi had retreated his attack before the blade could slice his fingers. This was when both of the clones decided to step in.

The two clones came up from behind Yasuo, attempting to attack him with the same odd palm strikes as the original Takeshi had. Yasuo turned to his right, so his back was no longer to anyone, and jumped back, managing to evade several palm strikes in the process.

Yasuo tried to attack a clone nearest him with the sword, but the other clone interrupted the attack with its own palm strikes. When he tried to attack the real Takeshi with the blade, the other clones would use that opportunity to try to get off their own attacks. He would even try to get both clones with a single slash, but would notice the real Takeshi try to circle behind Yasuo at that exact moment. No matter what he did or how well he fought, fighting three enemies of Takeshi's caliber was too much for him to do on his own.

_I can't get any attacks off like this. If I do attack, I'll just end up leaving myself open to one of their attacks. The best that I could hope for is to try to get them all with a single attack, but Takeshi-sensei isn't stupid enough to let that happen. _Yasuo thought, feeling resigned to retreat.

Kuroi Kiba burst into smoke and returned to where it had been summoned from as Yasuo jumped back to where Keiji and Kurizu now stood.

"If we're gonna do this, we have to attack together." Yasuo concluded from his attempt. He knelt down and made a hand seal, using both hands to put an index finger and a middle finger on the two summoning seals on his ankles. "I think I have a plan, too."

4

[Back in the Hidden Cloud...]

Rita led Gin into the Raikage's meeting room. The room was at the highest point of a building in the center of the Hidden Cloud village. The room itself was circular and the majority of the walls were made of glass, going seven feet up and stopping just before the ceiling. This provided an excellent view of the village which surrounded them. The rest of the wall and the ceiling was not made of glass. In the center of the room was a large circular table which had sixteen chairs carefully positioned around it. Koga, Gin's brother, was seated in one of the chairs.

After leading Gin into the room, Rita made her exit and closed the door behind her. She had other business to attend to, most of which would get delayed because of this task.

Gin looked at Koga. Koga was a tall and muscular man. His skin tone was slightly darker than Gin's was, but he shared the same blond hair and blue eyes as his brother. Koga's face had been the victim of severe burning back when they were Genin and about a quarter of it had retained scarring as proof. The scarring started just below his left cheekbone and went down, taking up that entire part of his face. This included a small part of his nose and a quarter of the left part of his mouth, as well as half of his chin.

The burning had been Gin's fault and the cause of it had almost killed his brother. While Gin was practicing producing lava when he and Koga were kids, some of it had splattered on Koga's face. Gin had reacted quickly and reduced the temperature of the lava to a harmless level, but the burning had already been done by that point. If he had taken even a few seconds longer, the lava probably would have burned through Koga's face and killed him instead of simply damaging his face and leaving scarring.

Koga didn't hold it over Gin. He understood that it was an accident and that he shouldn't have even been standing that close to Gin while he was practicing in the first place. Koga tried to play it off, telling Gin that the scars made him look like a badass, but Gin knew that the scars actually bothered Koga. Gin and Rita had spoken about it about a year back.

_"Gin. Sometimes, I see him staring into a mirror so intensely... as if he's trying to visualize what his face looked like before the scarring. He's hurting inside. Having to live with a deformed face must be difficult. He knows that it isn't your fault and he doesn't blame you for it at all, but it still affects him."_

Every time he sees the scarring on his brother's face, Gin would feel a wave of sorrow rush over him. The scarring is the reason why Gin became so determined to help his brother out. If he had only been more careful with the lava, Koga would have been able to have a normal face.

"Koga. What is it that you wanted me for?" Gin asked, his eyes focusing on the right side of his brothers face.

Koga stood up from the seat and cleared his throat. He was dressed in the robes and hat of the Raikage. He felt that it was necessary to dress like this for meetings held in this room. One had just been concluded before Rita and Gin showed up.

"It's about the Chuunin Exams. I know that they're two months away, but this mostly concerns the Jinchuuriki." Koga said. "Out of the nine of us, how many are Genin?"

"Two. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki should have become a Genin recently and the the Nibi Jinchuuriki should have become one at around the same time. Maybe a week earlier." Gin said. The Jinchuuriki were kept track of in all of the Hidden Villages, now, to maintain the balance of power. If something was to happen to a Jinchuuriki in one of the Hidden Villages to alter the balance of power, such as one gaining full control over the Bijuu's chakra or such as one deserting their village, all of the other villages were to be made aware. Since all of the villages were allied with one another, keeping tabs was not problematic. "Why?"

"I want all of the Jinchuuriki to be present at the Chuunin Exams. I want to hold some kind of recognition event for us, so that way the Genin and the villagers of other villages can be made aware of who the Jinchuuriki are." Koga explained, sounding a bit excited about this idea. "I wanted to know what you think of it."

Gin thought it would be a pretty good idea. Most of the Jinchuuriki were revered in this time. The Gobi Jinchuuriki was the Raikage, the Yonbi Jinchuuriki was the brother of the Raikage, other Jinchuuriki were looked up to for their power, and a few Jinchuuriki were Genin, so they were probably only looked up to by their friends, if anything.

"I think it's a good idea. I think the event should involve Naruto Uzumaki in some way, seeing as he was the one who directly contributed towards the equality of Jinchuuriki." Gin suggested, Koga nodding in agreement. "We should get word out to the other nations' villages so they can make preparations."

"I'll send out four Jonin to deliver messages to the other villages, then. Thanks for your support, brother." Koga said, the sincerity of his tone not matching his physique very well.

Gin nodded and said goodbye to Koga, turning around and leaving the room. Koga would probably have more details regarding this event when the Chuunin Exams drew closer. Gin was looking forward to those details.

5

[Back in Konohagakure]

As Yasuo applied chakra to the two summoning seals on his ankles, two small blades appeared in small clouds of smoke in his hands. They were daggers, both identical in appearance. The two daggers both had black blades, the blades themselves being slightly curved. The hilts were shiny and silver with black cloth wrapped around them.

"_Chi to Namida..." _Yasuo murmured as he stood up straight, holding the dagger in his right hand out in front of him and the dagger in his left hand more off to the side. He held both daggers differently. The one in his right hand was held with the blade facing away from his body while the one in his left hand was held with the blade facing towards his body. "Keiji."

Keiji looked over to Yasuo as his name was called. He wanted to be fascinated by the dual daggers that Yasuo now wielded, but now wasn't the appropriate time.

"My plan. I want you to get all three of them as close together as you can. Kurizu... Stay by me first. I need you to help me with something. After you're done here, I want you to support Keiji as best as you can. When I'm ready, I'll call out your names. I want you two to get as close to the ground as possible when you hear me, okay?" Yasuo explained, Keiji and Kurizu nodding in understanding. "Also... about that chakra on his hands. I still don't know what exactly it does, but he kept trying to hit me with palm strikes, which can't do much damage on their own. Consider the chakra on his hands to be dangerous and try not to let him touch you with it."

"Yeah, yeah, Yasuo." Keiji said, sounding slightly childish. "You talk too much, you know that? Let's get going, already."

Kurizu looked to Yasuo and the two of them sighed together. After looking to Keiji to confirm their readiness, Keiji ran off towards Takeshi. Kurizu stayed near Yasuo and listened to what he needed to do.

Takeshi had stayed back in order to give them a chance to come up with a strategy. This exercise was about working together to take down a stronger foe. If he had been on the offensive the entire time and overwhelmed his three students with attacks, it would benefit no one. Right now, it looked as though the three Genin had a plan together. Keiji was charging in again, but Kurizu and Yasuo both looked as if they were devising something. They still didn't seem to realize what the chakra on Takeshi's hands could do to them, otherwise they wouldn't bother charging in.

"I guess it's time to show them." Takeshi said with a sigh as he cracked his knuckles. All at once, Takeshi and his two clones started running towards Keiji, but more importantly towards the two boys behind him. The two clones stopped by Keiji to try and keep him at bay while the real Takeshi slipped by him and continued towards Yasuo and Kurizu.

_**You let one get past you! **_The Juubi exclaimed to Keiji while he was dodging attacks from both of the Takeshi clones.

"I know, but there isn't much I could do..." Keiji muttered, ducking to avoid two simultaneous palm strikes aimed at his head. "We weren't expecting him to go after Yasuo and Kurizu..."

_**Let me take over. I'll get the third one away from your friends.**_

__"What? You can do tha-"

_**I told you. Bijuu used to offer up their chakra in an attempt to take control of the hosts body. I can use my chakra to control your body like a puppet. I can't do it for very long, though, because of the limits of my strength.**_

__"Alright. Just make sure you get him."

The Juubi didn't respond after Keiji gave it permission to temporarily take control over his body. The chakra immediately started to leak out of his body, creating the dark aura around him. The only physical changes that occurred were his nails becoming claws and his teeth becoming fangs. His eyes hadn't become a solid black with white pupils because only a small amount of the Juubi's chakra had leaked out.

The Juubi's chakra caused a strange reaction in the two Takeshi clones. Neither clone would move or attack him for whatever reason. It seemed as though the virulent nature of the chakra had stunned them, somehow.

Keiji's body immediately disappeared, the Juubi no longer minding the two clones. The Juubi was in control now, so it was able to make his body move at a faster speed than usual. In an instant, he reappeared in the space between Takeshi and the other two Genin. In the next instant, Keiji had pushed off of the ground and leaped towards Takeshi, moving at a ridiculous speed towards his sensei.

Keiji, under the Juubi's temporary control, launched a punch as he moved towards Takeshi. The punch seemed to connect with Takeshi's face, but as soon as it did a cloud of smoke appeared and Takeshi's body seemed to instantaneously get replaced with a log. The force from the punch launched the log across the field, nearly splitting the log in half in the process.

_The Kawarimi no Jutsu... _Keiji thought, knowing that Takeshi himself would now try one of two things. He would either keep going for Yasuo and Kurizu, or he would change his tactic completely and go for Keiji.

"That was impressive, Keiji." Takeshi said from behind the white haired Genin. At this point, the Juubi's chakra started to recede back into Keiji's body, the claws and fangs returning back to what they originally were. "I don't know what you are or what's inside of you, but you almost caught me off guard."

Takeshi was facing Keiji's back, a palm strike already in preparation. The chakra around his hand looked more intense than it usually did. He was probably concentrating all, or most, of his power into this one attack for two reasons. One, he knew it would definitely hit Keiji. Two, reducing the numbers of his opponents from three to two would be extremely beneficial to him.

Without saying anything more, Takeshi thrust his arm forward and attempted to strike Keiji's back with a palm strike. Keiji shut his eyes, waiting for the attack to make contact. This had happened too quickly for him to react to. The Juubi's control had just worn off, too, so he didn't even have full control over his body. All Keiji could do was prepare for whatever the chakra attack was going to do to him.

The palm strike made contact, but not with Keiji's back. Instead, Kurizu had moved into the small space between Keiji and Takeshi, taking the hit for his friend. Takeshi had noticed Kurizu move in the way, but it had been too late to stop the attack. Instead of trying to stop it, he changed its course since the attack would probably hit Kurizu in the chest, dealing fatal damage to him. He changed its course from Kurizu's back to his shoulder, a loud _snap _sounding off from it as the attack made contact.

Another thing had happened when the attack made contact. As soon as the _snap _had been made, a force was exerted from Kurizu's body, sending Takeshi's arm flying back and throwing the man off balance. Takeshi noticed that Kurizu's eyes were now green as this happened, realizing that this was the Bariagan, the Shimizu clan's Kekkei Genkai.

Keiji spun around as he felt the force exert from Kurizu's body. He saw Kurizu standing in front of him and Takeshi off balance, immediately knowing what had happened. Kurizu had now dropped to his knees, clutching his left shoulder.

_He jumped in the way of the attack and used the Bariagan to give me an opening. _Keiji said with a nod. He felt bad that he wasn't able to keep his friend from getting hurt, but he had to use the opportunity that Kurizu had given him to win this fight.

Keiji had quickly moved to Takeshi's backside, Takeshi himself still thrown off balance from the Bariagan's deflection of his attack. In one moment, Keiji made rapid hand seals and made a sphere of water form in the space between him and Takeshi. In another moment, Keiji made a small explosive reaction at the back of the sphere, sending the water crashing into the temporarily immobile Takeshi. The force of the water combined with the fact that Takeshi was off balance was enough to knock him off of his feet and launch him over Kurizu, sending him over to the other two immobilized clones.

Takeshi landed on his back but rolled backwards, quickly getting back up to his feet. His back was in pain from the jutsu that Keiji had just used and the chakra had faded from his hands.

_Dammit... _Takeshi thought. Amane, their previous sensei, had told him about their skills that she knew of. She had told him that Keiji could use a kusarigama, so Takeshi had been prepared for that. She had told him that Kurizu's Bariagan had awakened, but he likely didn't know how to activate it, so he hadn't been expecting it to be used against him. She had told him about Yasuo's ability to summon a sword from a seal on his body and that he could use the Raiton, so he had been prepared for both of those things. He hadn't been prepared for the Bariagan, the dark chakra that had been around Keiji which clearly acted as some kind of ability boost, or for Keiji to know a jutsu. And on top of all of that, from where he was standing, he was able to see what Yasuo was up to. With his back in the shape that it was in, evading this next attack would be nearly impossible and he knew it.

"Keiji! Kurizu! Get down, now!" Yasuo had called out to his two teammates. Keiji turned to Yasuo and his eyes widened when he saw what Yasuo had done.

He was holding both of the daggers with the blades pointing away from his body. There was electricity coursing through both of Yasuo's arms and into the blades themselves, creating an electric aura around the daggers. Keiji had seen Yasuo do this during the Graduation Exam in his fight against Azumi. It had been done with Kuroi Kiba, but it was essentially the same concept. The electricity had been focused at the base of the hilts. There was a small metal bell attached to the base of each hilt. The electricity had been focused on each bell and seemed to form some kind of lightning tether which connected each dagger by the bells.

Keiji knew what Yasuo was going to do and immediately got down on the ground, putting his arm around Kurizu and pulling him closer to the ground with him. Kurizu was in pain. The chakra that had been around Takeshi's hand had torn something inside of Kurizu's shoulder and rendered that arm useless. Being pulled down to the ground caused him to cry out in even more pain, but it needed to be done. Otherwise, he would get caught in the crossfire.

Yasuo eyed Takeshi and his two clones. The clones had been made immobile and were still unmoving, for some reason. Takeshi was probably in too much pain from landing on his back to be able to move much. This was a perfect opportunity. He had to attack before his sensei could recover, otherwise the chance to hit all three of them would be lost.

Yasuo threw both daggers towards Takeshi and his clones. The daggers flew over the heads of Kurizu and Keiji, the lightning tether passing over them as well. The daggers both moved outward, causing the tether that connected them to stretch out. The daggers flew by Takeshi and the two clones, but the tether passed right through them, seeming to phase through them like a ghost. As the lightning tether passed through Takeshi himself, who was the first to get hit by the lightning tether, electricity engulfed his body. The tether passed through him completely and then passed through both of the clones who were behind him simultaneously, causing electricity to engulf their bodies as well.

The two daggers stabbed into different trees, the small bells chiming their high pitched chimes as the daggers made contact. At that moment, the lightning tether that connected them dissipated and the electricity which engulfed the bodies of Takeshi and both of his clones faded. Both clones burst into smoke and Takeshi dropped to one knee. Thin black smoke was rising off of his slightly charred body. The attack hadn't been lethal, but it was enough to defeat both of the clones and bring Takeshi down to one knee.

Takeshi stayed on one knee for a few minutes. Keiji was moving Kurizu onto his back and Yasuo was heading over to them. They were going to try to figure out what was wrong with Kurizu's shoulder. They wouldn't be able to do anything for the kid.

_That was the Chakra no Mesu... It's primarily used, in battle, to deal internal damage. I didn't do any fatal damage to Kurizu, but they still won't be able to do anything about his shoulder. _Takeshi thought, wincing from the two sources of pain he now had. _They worked together well... Yasuo and Keiji both intrigue me. Yasuo is able to manipulate a single jutsu to create multiple different kinds of attacks. From Amane, I heard that he combined Raiton: Denryu with that black blade of his to indirectly defeat Azumi, the Uchiha. He used the same technique here to create a tether this time in order to catch multiple enemies in the technique. He probably had Kurizu attach bells to the base of each hilt, using that as a means to create the tether. _

Takeshi had heard the chimes of the bells as they hit the trees and used this to make that last observation.He now thought back to Keiji's combat display. His was not so easy to explain.

_He clearly has some power inside of him, but I don't know what it could be. It's resembles the abilities of a Jinchuuriki so closely, but that's just impossible. Konoha should only have the Kyuubi in its possession. _Takeshi thought. _Either way, if he somehow is a Jinchuuriki, as long as he doesn't become corrupt with the power that he has, I don't have a problem with him using it._

Takeshi rose to both feet now, his body feeling stiff. He started taking steps towards the three Genin.

"You three definitely aren't ordinary Genin." Takeshi began, stopping before the three Genin. He got down on one knee again and held his hands over Kurizu's internally injured shoulder.

"Shosen no Jutsu." Takeshi uttered. Green chakra engulfed both of his hands. Takeshi held his hands over Kurizu's shoulder for just under a minute before pulling them away.

The pain in Kurizu's shoulder had suddenly vanished due to the technique that Takeshi had just used. He had healed Kurizu's injured shoulder by using this medical technique to speed up the regenerative qualities of Kurizu's body. It was made clear that the internal injury had been healed when Kurizu sat up, feeling his shoulder as if he were wondering where the former pain had gone.

Kurizu looked at his sensei with awe. He understood what kind of shinobi Takeshi was, now. He was a Combat Medic. He used Medical Ninjutsu to deal internal damage to Kurizu's shoulder just as he had used Medical Ninjutsu to heal that same damage done to Kurizu's shoulder.

_I want him to teach me how to use Medical Ninjutsu. That's how I can make myself useful. _Kurizu thought as Takeshi helped him to his feet. _I'll find him later and I'll ask him to teach me... That way, Keiji and Yasuo don't have to know. Speaking of which... I need to ask my dad how I can use the Bariagan. It activated on its own twice now... I have to be able to use it at will._

"You three worked together well, for Genin. You pass this little training exercise." Takeshi said, both Keiji and Yasuo grinning and high-fiving one another. "As a result of this, we're going to start going on some slightly more advanced missions in the next week or so. Take tomorrow off to rest. We'll meet up at our usual spot to discuss our next mission. After a few more D-Ranked missions, we'll start going on C-Ranked missions so you three can get a bit more experience as actual shinobi."

"Alright!" Keiji exclaimed with excitement and joy as he threw his fist into the air. Yasuo reacted in the same way, more or less, and Kurizu was too focused on the Medical Ninjutsu to fully notice what his sensei had said.

Takeshi left a few moments after, mainly to go and recover from his injuries and left his students to celebrate their success among themselves.


	7. Chapter Seven

[Here's Chapter Seven. I decided to split this little sub-arc into two chapters, so Chapter Seven and Chapter Eight will be focusing on this little sub-plot. Enjoy~]

Chapter Seven

1

A week and a half passed quickly for Squad Three. They had gone on six more D-Ranked missions during this period of time, the missions ranging from basic yard work to babysitting children. Overall, the missions bored Keiji, Kurizu, and Yasuo completely, but they had managed to make some money and the week and a half passed rather quickly. After the sixth D-Ranked mission, Takeshi gave the squad time to prepare for the upcoming C-Ranked mission. He warned them that it wouldn't be as exciting as defending a small village from a group of enemy shinobi, but it would definitely be more interesting than the D-Ranked missions were.

C-Ranked missions were not too challenging, but they made a bit more use of a shinobi's talents. They usually involved acting as bodyguards for someone or taking down a ferocious wild animal, or something else along those lines. They were not usually too threatening.

Squad Three met up at their usual meeting spot two days after their sixth D-Ranked mission had been completed. Takeshi had been waiting there for the rest of his squad to show up. It was currently 2PM. When the rest of his squad arrived, he began to explain the mission to them.

"This mission is a somewhat unique one. It shouldn't be too difficult, but it has been made into a joint mission, meaning that we will be working with another squad." Takeshi explained. The trio thought that this would be cool. Getting to work with some of the other Genin that they had graduated with would definitely be interesting. "A smaller village off to the west of our own has been raided by bandits two days ago and they are low on medical supplies, rations, and other things of that nature. The Hokage has arranged for two caravans to be sent to the raided village to resupply them and to help them make any necessary repairs. One caravan will have the supplies on board and the other will have six carpenters on board. We are to act as bodyguards, since bandits tend to indiscriminately target caravans."

Although there was peace among the five nations, it did not mean that bad shinobi would cease to exist. There would always be people who had different views, so there would also always be people who behave differently or did things differently. Some people may think that they have the right to steal from others while some people may think that they have the right to another person's life. There would always be bad shinobi in this world, but the five nations standing together would now be able to face any threat that may come into existence.

"We will be working with Squad One. Their sensei will not be present. She has already been sent to the village to try and take control of the situation there. I will be more than enough to lead two teams during this mission." Takeshi explained further, looking at Yasuo for a moment. If it did get to a point where Takeshi needed any help or where he needed a temporary replacement, Yasuo would probably be his first choice. He was oddly mature and intelligent for a kid. "As for the formation... There will be six Genin and myself, making seven of us in total. Two out of the six of you will be put inside of the caravans in the event that enemies manage to get inside of them. Two of the remaining four will guard the sides. The remaining two will guard the rear. I will guard the front. I'll give further details as to who will go where when we meet up with Squad One."

Keiji, Kurizu, and Yasuo were all pumped and excited for this mission. Kurizu, over the past week, had been receiving personal training from Takeshi. He hadn't learned any Medical Ninjutsu. Mostly, he was being taught how to evade attacks more successfully and how to control his chakra. Regardless, he had some more confidence which would definitely help him out during this mission, assuming that they run into any trouble.

Kurizu had also asked his dad how to use the Bariagan. Kurizu hadn't even bothered to tell his dad that he had awakened his Bariagan, since he had no idea how to activate it. When he asked his dad how to use the ability, Kurizu was shown the hand seals required to manually activate the Bariagan.

Apparently, the Bariagan can be activated in three different ways. One way is to use the hand seals. It was slightly time consuming, but it was a way to manually activate the Bariagan. The second way to activate it is for it to activate on its own. The Bariagan is a defense mechanism, meaning that it can sense the way the body reacts to certain external stimulants and activate on its own. If you put yourself in harms way or into a situation where your life is in danger, the Bariagan may potentially activate to protect you. The third way to activate it is to do it naturally. After using the Bariagan enough times, one becomes able to manually activate the Kekkei Genkai without needing to use hand seals. This is the most effective method.

Keiji and Yasuo had been training together over the past week. Seeing as how Yasuo was skilled in the use of bladed weapons, he was teaching Keiji how to use his kusarigama more effectively.

Yasuo was looking forward to this mission for one specific reason. He would get to work with Azumi Uchiha. Their match in the Graduation Exam left Yasuo occasionally wondering how Azumi would've fought had he not ended the fight so quickly. If she had awakened or activated her Sharingan, he probably would have been screwed. Getting to work with her during this mission could potentially lead to witnessing her skills firsthand. There was also Yutaka Rikishi. Apparently, he was a Taijutsu user. He wouldn't be as interesting to work with as Azumi would, but it would be cool to see how someone manages mostly using Taijutsu.

It wasn't that the boy couldn't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. He could use both if he wanted to. Yutaka apparently only knew a single jutsu and he used that to enhance his Taijutsu, somehow. Primarily, however, Yutaka fought using Taijutsu.

Keiji, Yasuo, Kurizu, and Takeshi all remained by the bench and waited for Squad One to show up. They were going to be leaving by the means of the large gates, so it was convenient that they all just meet up by the bench, which was close to the gates themselves. Both of the caravans, each one being pulled by two horses, were already waiting outside of the gates.

Keiji was able to see the carpenters getting into the rear caravan and didn't envy them. Keiji and the others would be walking alongside the caravans all the way to this other smaller village. The carpenters would get the luxury of sitting inside of the caravan, but they would be missing out on any action, should bandits decide to target these caravans.

_Wait. That isn't even completely true... Two of us will be inside of the caravans, too. _Keiji thought, his eyes narrowing as he looked to Kurizu and then to Yasuo. _I hope Yasuo has to sit in a caravan the whole time. If we get attacked, I'll get to kick more ass with him out of the picture._

During the past week and a half, the Juubi had been on standby. It was using that time to rest and gather its strength. When Keiji had found out that his squad would be doing a C-Ranked mission two days ago, the Juubi came up on its own and offered its chakra and its eyes for Keiji to use, if he should need it. Keiji had accepted this offer gratefully, not even sure if he was going to be needing the Juubi's help for the mission or not.

Azumi, Ichiro, and Yutaka could now be seen walking towards the group along the road which led from within the village to the gates. Ichiro and Yutaka were both talking. Azumi was keeping to herself, it seemed. It wasn't very surprising. Azumi wasn't too big a fan of being on a team with Ichiro Yamanaka or Yutaka Rikishi. One of them was very weak, in her eyes, and the other one was just a potential musclehead.

Yutaka was not what you would probably expect. He had somewhat short unkempt black hair and amber eyes. He stood at about 5'8 and was pretty toned for someone his age. He wore a sleeveless dark gray shirt with a pair of matching sweatpants. The blue kunai holster was on his left leg and the beige pouch was worn on his waist, just as it was with most shinobi. He wore his Leaf Village forehead protector on his forehead and he also wore the blue sandals that could typically be seen on most shinobi.

Kurizu ran up to Ichiro as soon as Squad One got close enough. He gave the blond haired boy a fist bump and they exchanged greetings and short stories about what they've done with their squads so far. Ichiro even told Kurizu about how Azumi had awakened her Sharingan a few days ago.

"She did?" Kurizu asked after Ichiro had told him. Ichiro nodded and looked over to Azumi. She was standing by herself with her hands in her pockets and her eyes closed, clearly uninterested in what was going on around her.

"It was crazy. We were training together. Yutaka had her distracted with Taijutsu. I decided that I'd try to take her down, cause I'd have less of a chance of coming out on top if she was still in the game, so I used this ninja tool that I bought the other day." Ichiro explained, pulling what appeared to be a wooden ball out of his beige pouch. Kurizu knew what this ninja tool did. One would set the ball up anywhere, as a trap. If you threw a kunai knife at the ball and hit it directly, it would explode and send a dozen or so shuriken flying out. "I threw it into the air and hit it with a kunai, sending a rain of shuriken down at her. She noticed them and knew that if she dodged the shuriken, she'd be leaving herself open to Yutaka's attacks and if she took care of Yutaka, she would be leaving herself open to the shuriken. I guess her Sharingan activated right then, because she caught Yutaka's next two punches and hoisted him over her back, using him as a shield against the shuriken-"

"She did what?!"

"-but she knew that Yutaka saw the shuriken coming and that he would use the Kawarimi no Jutsu to save himself. The log that he switched places with still protected her from the shuriken. Then she stuck an explosive seal onto the log and threw it at me. Almost got me killed, but still... It happened so fast, too. It was amazing, Kurizu."

Kurizu was impressed by the story. It actually made him want to spar with his teammates. Mostly, it would be interesting seeing how Keiji and Yasuo fought one another.

Keiji and Yasuo stood by each other. Neither of them were too well acquainted with anyone in Squad One. Yasuo felt a bit awkward simply being around Azumi, especially since he had overheard Ichiro telling Kurizu that she had awakened her Sharingan. Keiji just didn't like her too much. She was an Uchiha and she was cocky. If she was anything like the countless other Uchiha who came before her, things would naturally come easy for her and she would be able to get insanely strong without having to put as much effort into it as everyone else.

_I bet I can beat her and her Sharingan with no problem... _Keiji thought.

_**If you ever have to face someone with the Sharingan, it'd be unwise to underestimate them... **_the Juubi said, thinking back to Sasuke Uchiha. It knew full well the potential of the Sharingan and just how powerful an Uchiha could become. _**They can trace your movements with their eyes and can almost predict your attacks. They can use this ability to instantaneously copy almost any Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, or Genjutsu they see with the Sharingan. On top of that, they can see the flow of chakra in ones body. A skilled Uchiha could even use their Sharingan to manipulate other people or control a Bijuu. As if that isn't bad enough, their Sharingan can evolve into a monstrously powerful form, which denotes three powers, each unique to every Uchiha, to the user. If they were to transplant another pair of Sharingan eyes into their own, either that of a sibling or just some other Uchiha, their Sharingan can evolve even further and give them even more power. The Sharingan can evolve one last time after that into a ridiculously powerful form called the **__**Rinnegan. Don't underestimate the Uchiha, kid.**_

Keiji got sidetracked about halfway through the Juubi's speech on the Sharingan and the Uchiha, so he didn't get to hear most of it.

_I've got Hangetsu and you on my side. Uchiha don't stand a chance, Juubi, _Keiji thought. The Juubi groaned, wondering how someone could possibly be so dense.

It was around this time when Takeshi quieted down the group and started to explain how things would be set up.

"I will be guarding the front of the caravans. Yasuo and Yutaka will be guarding the rear. Azumi will guard the left side and Keiji will guard the right side. Kurizu will be stationed inside of the first caravan, which will be transporting the supplies themselves. Ichiro will be stationed inside of the second caravan, which will be transporting the carpenters." Takeshi explained, not bothering to go into any more detail regarding why they were assigned the way they were. Kurizu and Ichiro were possibly the least skilled of the two squads, so they would need to be inside of the caravans. Kurizu was undergoing training to become a medic, so he would need to get used to being protected, as well. "We'll be leaving in about ten minutes, so get ready."

2

A man walked through the forest at a somewhat casual pace. Bandages were wrapped around the man's head, leaving only enough room at the eyes for him to see and at the nose and mouth areas so he could breathe and speak. The bandages were mostly reddened with blood. The man wore no shirt, his chest nearly covered with stitched up wounds. His pants were a dark red and were torn at the bottoms. He also wore no shoes.

There were three figures trailing behind the bandaged man. Each of the figures moved very mechanically as if they were puppets being controlled by an uncertain puppeteer. Two of the figures were shorter than the man. Numerous blades were protruding from the bodies of these figures. The figures didn't speak a single word as they walked after the man.

In the mass of trees which made up the forest that surrounded the Hidden Leaf Village, it might as well have been nighttime. The branches and the leaves all reached up into the sky to create a wall of tree parts which blocked out the sun. There were many crevices and spaces between the branches and that allowed a small amount of sunlight to slip through, but it wasn't enough to completely eliminate the darkness. This small amount of light only allowed one to see in the darkness.

This darkness that existed within the mass of trees obscured the four figures' features. One would only be able to make out the general shape of their bodies. One would be able to hear the odd squishing sound that their bare feet made as they walked on the moist soil, the heavy breathing coming from one or all of the figures, and the displaced chirping of birds. If one happened to get close enough, one would be able to smell the overwhelming scent of blood that resonated from the figures' bodies. One would likely feel a heavily weighted fear if one saw these figures walking through the forests.

These four figures were some of the remnants of a bandit clan that existed in the outskirts of the Hidden Leaf Village. The clan members were viewed as mere bandits. The clan was known for kidnapping villagers and performing tests on them. The clan was trying to create perfect weaponized shinobi by merging weapons with the human body. Eleven years ago, they had succeeded in merging weapons with a human but the Hidden Leaf had intervened, confiscated the results, and destroyed the research. Most of the clan had been captured and imprisoned by the Leaf shinobi, but a few of the members of the clan had managed to escape. These four were the escapees and these four have been trying, for the past eleven years, to recreate the successful experiment which the Hidden Leaf Village had confiscated from them.

"For the perfect weaponized shinobi..." the man with the bandaged face muttered as he walked through the darkened forest. "...we need supplies for the perfect weaponized shinobi."

The four figures walked through the forest at the same pace, unaware that they were nearing the same road which the two caravans would soon be traveling on.

3

The caravans departed from the Hidden Leaf Village right on schedule. They left through the two massive gates with five of the shinobi guarding them in a circular formation, the two others remaining inside of the caravans themselves. Kurizu and Ichiro didn't mind staying inside of the caravans for the duration of the trip. During an ambush, they probably wouldn't be of much use anyway and they understood this. It was a much more wise decision to keep them inside of the caravans if it meant that the mission could be executed flawlessly.

They also understood that the probability of them getting ambushed on the main road leading away from the Hidden Leaf Village itself was very low. Bandits would have to either be very stupid, very cocky, or very desperate to attack anyone on the road leading directly to the Hidden Leaf Village which is often used by Leaf shinobi.

Azumi was walking on the left side of the two caravans. She had both of her hands in her pockets and looked at the ground as she walked. This mission was probably going to be ridiculously easy, so she felt that it wasn't even necessary to stay on guard the entire time. Keeping watch for signs of a potential ambush would be enough. With her eyes and her skills, she could parry the halfassed attacks of bandits with her feet if she had to. That's what she thought, anyway.

Keiji was walking on the right side of the two caravans. He was swinging his kusarigama by the chain, making sure the blade came nowhere near his body. He thought about how ironic it would be if he accidentally cleaved his head off while swinging the sickle the way he was now and he found himself laughing, mostly because that would be such a terrible way to die.

The Juubi was doing Keiji's job for him. It had known that Keiji was not suited for a mission like this. He was too easily distracted during uneventful times like this and couldn't stay focused on his surroundings to watch for signs of an ambush. The Juubi was looking through Keiji's eyes and watched the surrounding trees for any signs of an ambush in Keiji's place.

Yasuo and Yutaka were walking side by side behind the caravans, Yasuo on the left side and Yutaka on the right side. The two of them talked as they walked. Yasuo had asked Yutaka why he doesn't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu as much as he uses Taijutsu. Yutaka went off on some kind of tangent, explaining to Yasuo the benefits of immersing oneself in Taijutsu, mostly staying around the speed and the power that can be acquired from Taijutsu training. Yasuo somewhat regretted asking the question, but at the same time learned about why Yutaka was bent on becoming a Taijutsu specialist.

Yasuo then asked Yutaka what jutsu he uses to enhance his Taijutsu. It was to this question that Yasuo got a reluctant answer from Yutaka. Apparently, it was a technique that his father passed down to him. He wasn't supposed to go into much detail about it. Yutaka told Yasuo that if they ever fight, he would gladly show him the technique. Yasuo said that he would like that,

Their conversation then turned to Azumi. Yasuo had brought up her name, but before he could even ask the question that he wanted to ask, Yutaka started to tell him about when she had activated her Sharingan. He told Yasuo that the fight was insane and that she had tried to use him as a human shield right before throwing an exploding log at Ichiro.

"She's ruthless. I have no idea where she gets it from, but she really doesn't hold back against anyone." Yutaka said with a groan. He was glad that he was on her team. Having to ever fight someone like that would only end badly for him. "What about you, Yasuo? How did you get those... seals on your body?" Yutaka had noticed a seal on the back of Yasuo's neck and on one of Yasuo's wrists as they had walked.

Yasuo's left hand unconsciously covered the seal on his right wrist as Yutaka asked his question.

"They were a gift from someone I used to know..." Yasuo said vaguely. "That's all."

Yutaka immediately understood that it was a sensitive topic for Yasuo and apologized. They continued to talk, afterward, on a different subject.

Takeshi was walking in the front of the two caravans, in front of the two horses leading the first caravan. He spent most of the time as they walked either watching the sky or the path in front of them for any signs of an ambush. As he did this, he thought through several strategies in the event that bandits decide to be stupid, cocky, and desperate enough to ambush the caravans on the main road leading away from the Hidden Leaf Village. He went over strategies in the event that there were two enemies, three enemies, four enemies, and so on. All of the strategies involved fighting as a team.

Takeshi had gotten into a fourth strategy before he realized how far they had gotten. If one traveled along the main road, they would find themselves at a fork in the road in about twenty minutes. All they would need to do is make a left at the fork and continue along that road for an hour and a half or so. After that hour and a half, give or take, they would find themselves at their destination. They had been traveling down the main road for about fifteen minutes, so the fork should be showing up relatively soon. Takeshi took this as a good sign and figured that it would mean that there might not even be a need for the strategies that he had been devising.

He was proven wrong when he looked straight ahead and saw two figures step out into the middle of the road. As soon as he saw this, Takeshi let out a sigh and held his hand up, signaling the drivers to make the horses stop walking. Both caravans came to a quick stop. Azumi, Keiji, Yasuo, Yutaka, Kurizu, and Ichiro all knew what this meant and they got their guard up, preparing for an ambush.

Takeshi watched the two figures that had stepped out onto the road. They were both swaying back and forth a bit, as if they had consumed a decent amount of alcohol a little while ago. That was not the most concerning thing that Takeshi saw, though.

The roads in this forest are lit up more brightly than anywhere else in the forest because the roads act as separators for the trees. Trees do not grow on the roads, so there are no leaves or branches up above to block out the sun. As a result, the sunlight shines down on the roads and illuminates them. The figures stepped out into the light, so their features were now noticeable.

One of the figures had long red hair. Most of the color had disappeared from his hair, though, so it had become extremely pale. Numerous patches of his hair were even missing, leaving a bunch of random bald spots. This figure wore no shirt or shoes and only had a pair of shorts on. Protruding from his elbows were two blades, both probably belonging to katana. Blood was dripping down each blade, suggesting that they had been forcibly attached to the elbow. What Takeshi noticed on this figure was that he had a bunch of bandages on random spots of his mostly bare body. There were bandages wrapped around his wrists and around his neck, around his waist and both knees. All of the bandages were reddened with blood and blackened with dirt.

The second figure was taller than the first and appeared to be much more muscular. This figure had no hair and was completely bald. This one wore a plain white tank top, which was covered in dirt and other grime, and a pair of shorts. He had bandages in all of the same places as the first figure, but he did not have the blades protruding from his elbows. Instead, he had smaller blades protruding from the palms of his hands. Blood was dripping down these two blades, as well.

_This is... strange... _Takeshi thought, pulling a kunai knife out of the holster on his leg.

"I suggest that you two step aside, unless you want to get taken down." Takeshi called out to the two who stood in his path. Neither of them said a word in response. They didn't even seem to notice Takeshi speak. They just stood in the way of the caravans, following their orders down to the letter.

Takeshi really didn't want to antagonize them. These two actually looked dangerous and if they could avoid a fight, that would be best. While Takeshi was dealing with the two ambushers in the front of the caravans, Azumi watched from the left side.

_Two strange people got in our way? They aren't doing anything... I wonder... _Azumi thought, deciding to investigate further. If those two people were just standing in the way, then maybe they were just there to act as some kind of distraction.

Azumi looked to the part of the forest that was on the left side of the path. It was dark and mostly concealed with trees, but it was here that Azumi found exactly what she was looking for. There was another person standing beside one of the trees at the edge of the path. This figure looked like a small and frail woman. She had bandages in various places and she was clothed, unlike the other two. This woman had blades protruding from her shoulders. Two short blades protruded from her right shoulder and one long blade jutted out from her left shoulder.

The woman was standing next to a tree that was a few feet ahead of Azumi next to the path. The woman was standing directly across from the two horses that were pulling the first caravan. Takeshi was probably too focused on the other two enemies that he hadn't noticed the woman. She was removing the bandages from her right wrist, revealing some kind of black tattoo. The woman had her palm aimed at the horses and she made a hand seal with her other hand, pressing her index and middle fingers down onto the tattoo.

_That's just like what Arai does... _Azumi thought, thinking back to when Yasuo had summoned the black blade during their fight. It had been done in an extremely similar manner. The tattoo on the woman's wrist was likely a summoning seal. If it was related to the summoning seals on Yasuo's body, then this woman could be summoning a weapon. In all honesty, though, she could easily be summoning anything.

Azumi's eyes went red as she activated her Sharingan. The two tomoe pairs circled around each pupil once before setting into position.

Azumi understood exactly what was going on, now. The woman was preparing to attack the horses. While those other two enemies distracted everyone, this woman would disable the horses to prevent the caravans from escaping. They probably had a fourth person hiding out somewhere else to slip in during the chaos and steal from the caravans. Judging by the way the woman was standing with her left hand gripped around her right wrist to brace her arm, something was going to get launched at the horses. It was probably going to be something powerful, too.

Takeshi was distracted and the woman was not visible to Keiji, Yasuo, or Yutaka. Azumi would have to take matters into her own hands. She started to make some quick hand seals, her body disappearing in the process. Azumi reappeared directly across from the woman, who seemed to be completely unfazed.

"_Katon: Yari o Moyashi!" _Azumi exclaimed as she held a cupped hand to her mouth. She blew into the cupped hand and produced a thin stream of fire. The thin stream of fire was probably barely longer than Azumi's arm. The flames which made up the jutsu were red-orange, but a hint of black could be seen mixed in with the flames.

Sasuke Uchiha's Sharingan had an effect on all Uchiha that followed him. Sasuke had been given the Amaterasu from his brother Itachi Uchiha. Traits of the Amaterasu had been passed down from Uchiha to Uchiha, existing as a part of the Sharingan itself. Basically, when the Sharingan is active, any Katon techniques gain qualities of the Amaterasu, mainly traces of its black color and a drastic increase in temperature.

The spear of fire that had been produced by Azumi's jutsu was launched from Azumi to the woman who had been preparing to attack the horses. At that precise moment, a small cloud of smoke had appeared around the woman's palm and a harpoon was fired from it, being launched at a ridiculous speed at Azumi.

Azumi's fire spear hit the harpoon head on. The temperature of the flames was so high that the jutsu instantaneously melted away at the metal of the harpoon. The harpoon lost most of the metal that made up its shape, as well as the velocity at which it was moving, and the now deformed hunk of metal fell to the ground anticlimactically.

Azumi's fire spear, however, kept going. It flew through the air and hit the woman in the chest, stabbing into her like an oversized arrow. The jutsu set the woman's flesh on fire in an instant, forcing her to the ground as she screamed in pain, the jutsu now burning her alive.

By the time the jutsu ignited the enemy who had tried to attack with a harpoon, Takeshi and the others had been made aware that the enemies had tried to stealthily attack them.

"Takeshi-sensei!" Keiji called out from his position. "What should we do?"

"Stay where you are. Right now, Azumi is the closest to where these two enemies are. She will help me take these two down. Stay on guard, though. There may be more enemies." Takeshi responded to Keiji, looking over to Azumi after he finished. She nodded to him, understanding what she was supposed to do.

The two enemies who had walked out in front of the caravans were still standing there, unmoving. Azumi took this opportunity to rush in close to both of them. With her Sharingan, she could easily take these two enemies down.

As soon as she stepped within a few feet of the two disfigured men, they looked at her as if they had just noticed her running towards them.

_They're slow. I might not even need the Sharingan to beat them... _Azumi thought as she got in close to the larger of the two enemies. She promptly attacked him with a flurry of solid punches, the man not even bothering to try to block or evade any of them. None of the punches seemed to even have a slight effect on the man. It was as if all of his muscle was cushioning the blows.

In the middle of Azumi's attacks, the man swung his hand down at her. This enemy was the one with the blades protruding from his palms, so he actually intended to impale her with this attack.

Azumi quickly ducked out of the way of the attack and elegantly spun around to the man's back. As she went to hit the back of his neck with her right elbow, the second enemy began to start moving towards her. He tried to grab Azumi, but she immediately took a step forward as she was executing the elbow strike. She did this to create more space between her and the larger foe. Instead of hitting the larger enemy with her elbow, she kept the attack going and spun to her right until her elbow connected with the second enemy's face.

This enemy was not heavily built, so her strike was able to send him sprawling onto the ground. Azumi now turned to face the larger enemy and noticed that he had turned to her, already attempting to hit her with another bladed palm strike.

Azumi made her next move very carefully. As the larger man's massive hand neared her face, she pressed her hands up against the hand he was using to attack her, making sure that her hands did not touch the blade protruding from his palm as she did this. She used the force of his attack to allow herself to get lifted off of the ground and launched into the air. Azumi did a single backflip in the air and gracefully stuck to the side of the tree that she was headed towards by concentrating chakra to her feet in midair. When Azumi was certain that she would not fall off of the tree trunk, she made several fast hand seals and held a cupped hand to her mouth.

She blew a short burst of her breath into the cupped hand, which produced the black-tinted flame spear once again. The flame spear was launched through the air and embedded into the left arm of the large enemy. He was set ablaze almost immediately after the spear made contact with him. The man collapsed onto the ground and fell on top of the smaller enemy, who had just begun to stand up after being knocked onto the ground by Azumi. The flames spread from the larger man and onto the smaller man, both of them screaming as the fire burned away at their bodies.

Takeshi watched as Azumi jumped down from the side of the tree, landing on her feet without making a sound.

_I said she was going to help me bring them down... and she took them both down on her own. What can I say? She is an Uchiha, anyway. It shouldn't surprise me, but... That was impressive all the same... _Takeshi thought with a sigh of relief.

"That's three." Azumi said, verbally counting how many enemies had been taken down. She looked around to see if there were any more enemies. The area was almost silent, now. The two men who had just been taken down by Azumi had quieted down, either dead or severely injured and unconscious. The woman was in the same state, as well. The flames which had roasted all three of them had already dissipated. "There doesn't seem to be anymo-"

"The Sharingan!" the voice of a man nearly screeched from the surrounding trees. The voice made Azumi along with all of the others minus Takeshi, jump a bit. "That's what he needs. That's what he needs! I'll be taking those eyes from you, girl!"

Azumi spat onto the ground out of disgust as she heard the remark made by this new man. People had always been trying to steal Kekkei Genkai, whether it be the Sharingan or the Byakugan, to increase their own strength. It was pathetic, in Azumi's eyes.

"You want these eyes so badly? Come and get them!" Azumi said, holding her arms out and inviting the man to try and steal her Sharingan.

Yasuo recognized this voice the instant that he heard it. When he heard Azumi challenge the man to whom the voice belonged, Yasuo grew worried and immediately summoned Kuroi Kiba. Before Yutaka could even ask Yasuo what he was doing, Yasuo was already running along the left side of the caravans.

The man appeared before Azumi in a flash, her eyes widening as she realized that the man was already in the motions of executing an attack. He had a curved kunai knife in his right hand and was in the process of executing a downward slash on Azumi.

_My Sharingan couldn't track his movements! Is he... really that fast? _Azumi thought as she watch the blade swing down towards her. Before the kunai knife could carve into her flesh, Yasuo had jumped in the way and parried the attack with Kuroi Kiba.

"Azumi. This guy isn't like the others that you beat up..." Yasuo said as he tried push the man's kunai knife back with his own sword. Yasuo, as he had run over to Azumi, had noticed that all three of the enemies were on the ground and had charred bodies. He assumed that Azumi had defeated them all with a Katon technique. "He actually means business... Back up. I'll kill this guy."

Azumi was able to sense the serious intent present in Yasuo's tone. He wasn't just doing this to show her up, nor was he doing this for the glory. Yasuo truly wanted to defeat this guy.

"Who is he?" Azumi asked, believing that Yasuo might actually know the answer. The man had bandages covering about 90% of his face and wore very beat up looking pants. He also had a bunch of wounds on his body that looked like they may have been stitched up by an amateur medic or something along those lines.

"He's someone I need to take down. Back up and let me handle this!" Yasuo snapped, Azumi flinching at the aggression in his voice. Azumi did as Yasuo said and took a few steps back. When Azumi was far enough away, Yasuo pushed forward and forced the man to retreat a few steps, Yasuo jumping back a bit himself to create more distance between the two.

"That sword..." the man observed, his eyes going over Kuroi Kiba from the small openings in the bandage mask he wore. "You're-"

Yasuo didn't let the man finish his sentence. He lunged forward and flipped the sword, making it so the serrated edge was facing up, and thrust Kuroi Kiba into the man's left shoulder. The man let out a scream as the blade sunk into his shoulder, but the attack wasn't finished there. Yasuo pulled up with the blade, slicing up through the man's shoulder and creating a very deep gash.

The man screamed even more as this was done. Blood was gushing out of the wound, spilling down the left side of his body and dripping onto the ground.

"_Fucking brat!_" the man roared, his left arm hanging down by his side and his body shaking from the severe pain. "I'll kill you. I'll gut you for that, you stupid _shit!" _

Yasuo ignored the empty words spouted by the bandaged man. With his arm in the shape that it was in, the man no longer stood a chance. Yasuo slashed diagonally at the man, intending to cut through his other shoulder and continue the attack into the chest area. As the sword was about to make contact with the man, a log appeared in his place. The bandaged man had retreated back into the forest.

"Running away? Not happening!" Yasuo exclaimed as he sheathed Kuroi Kiba, sending it back to wherever he was even summoning it from.

"Yasuo, no! Don't go after him!" Takeshi shouted as Yasuo dashed into the thicket of trees that the bandaged man had made his escape into. Takeshi couldn't go after Yasuo. In the event that there were still more enemies around, Takeshi needed to remain by the caravans to defend them. "Azumi. Keiji. Yutaka."

As Takeshi called their names, Keiji and Yutaka ran around the caravans and stopped in front of Takeshi. They had been ordered to remain where they were, so they didn't entirely understand what had gone on just recently. Azumi simply turned to face Takeshi. She already understood where this was going.

"Yasuo went after one of the bandits that tried to ambush us. I want the three of you to go after him and bring him back..." Takeshi said, looking at the three Genin in front of him. "I can defend the caravans on my own. If I need any help, I have Kurizu and Ichiro to back me up. We can't have Yasuo chasing after the enemy on his own, so I need you three to bring him back. Understood?"

"You don't need to tell me twice, Takeshi-sensei. I would've gone after Yasuo even if you told me to stay here." Keiji said, turning away from Takeshi. Azumi and Yutaka both nodded in agreement. "Let's go, guys, before Yasuo gets himself killed..."

Azumi nodded and motioned for the others to follow her. Azumi, Keiji, and Yutaka all promptly ran into the thicket of trees after Yasuo.


	8. Chapter Eight

[Sorry about the long wait. Got preoccupied with some other things and didn't have much time to work on this chapter. Either way, here it is. Enjoy. xD]

Chapter Eight

1

Yasuo ran for what seemed like a span of ten minutes. He maneuvered around several trees while following a trail of blood that was being left by his target. It was very difficult to follow the trail of blood, considering how dark it was in the forest, but there were some random moments where light shone through the treetops and he used this to make sure he was still following the trail.

Even though he couldn't understand how this man could possibly be moving so quickly with such a deep wound in his shoulder, Yasuo pressed on. Reaching and killing this man were the highest on Yasuo's list of priorities.

As he ran, he thought back to Keiji and the others. He remembered hearing Takeshi call out to him, telling him not to chase after the bandaged man on his own. He understood the risks, but he didn't want to get everyone else involved with his personal battle with this man.

Yasuo wondered what Keiji and Kurizu were probably thinking. Yasuo had told Keiji something slightly pertaining to this when they were younger, and even then it wasn't enough information for anyone to make an accurate deduction. Kurizu probably wouldn't be able to figure anything out either. In fact, he would probably be the one worrying the most. He didn't want them to worry about him or to come after him themselves.

Chances are, Takeshi probably sent Azumi after him, if he didn't just come himself. Azumi had the Sharingan and Takeshi was skilled enough to take down a single Genin. Either way, he would need to wrap this up before either of them showed up.

All of a sudden, Yasuo stopped running and his gaze fixed on the spot where the trail of blood stopped. The drips of blood seemed to lead to the left, just before heading past a tree, and they kept going into a bush. Judging by how there was a slightly larger quantity of blood directly in front of the bush, the bandaged man probably stopped right in front of it for a little bit before continuing on.

"Continuing on to where, though?" Yasuo thought out loud as he cautiously approached the bush. The bush had grown along the base of a tree, so the bandaged man couldn't have gone through the bush to the other side. If he had gone in the bush and exited through the left or right sides, there would be blood leading away from it in either of those two directions. The only blood that was present was that of the trail leading to the bush.

As Yasuo got closer to the bush, he could just make out a small piece of metal sticking out from underneath the bush. This could possibly be a trap, but Yasuo had nothing else to go on. Instead of retreating, he kept moving towards the bush. When he got close enough, he stopped and observed the piece of metal.

_It looks like a corner of something... There's probably something larger than I thought under there... _Yasuo thought, feeling a bead of sweat drip down the side of his face. He reached out for the bush and grabbed a handful of leaves. As soon as he grabbed onto the bush, he felt something odd about it and pulled back. The entire bush was lifted up easily, as if somebody had dug it out of the ground and precariously put it back to cover up the hole that was created.

Instead of there being a hole in the ground, however, there was a metal trapdoor that was scarcely covered with dirt and twigs. Yasuo immediately understood what this meant and tossed the bush aside, grabbing the handle of the trapdoor shortly after. He opened the door and climbed down into the passage, almost entirely positive that he would find the bandaged man below.

A ladder had been attached to one of the sides of the passage and this was what Yasuo had used to climb down. He made the descent rather quickly and found himself in a dimly lit cave when he reached the bottom. The cave consisted of one large open space littered with rock and dirt. There were several desks and beds in the cave, one more than was necessary for the bandaged man and his three lackeys who had led the attack on the caravans. Yasuo had noticed the number of beds first and started to figure out what it meant before the bandaged man stepped out from the shadows.

"Good. So you followed me all the way here." the man with the bandaged face said to Yasuo, his voice sounding slightly shaky from the pain. Yasuo noticed that the man had bandaged his wounded shoulder already and sighed.

"There's someone else here, isn't there? It makes sense." Yasuo started, drawing Kuroi Kiba. "This other person probably helped you escape. There was no way you could have outrun me with your shoulder in the condition that it was in. This other person probably took you to this place and performed quick first aid on your shoulder."

The man with the bandaged face, and shoulder now, let out a strange laugh when Yasuo was finished theorizing.

"If I didn't already know who you are, I might have been surprised by your little deduction." the man said, his voice sounding lively, but still pained. "Unfortunately for you, however, you were dead on."

Yasuo saw movement in the shadows behind the man with the bandaged face. A figure stepped out from the shadows and stood behind the bandaged man. This new figure looked slightly shorter than the bandaged man and actually looked like it was slightly shorter than Yasuo.

The new figure was a boy, probably no older than Yasuo. The boy had long black hair and wore no shirt, his chest instead being wrapped up with bandages. The bandages looked new and unbloodied. The boy wore a pair of pants and sandals. Like Yasuo, the boy also had summoning seals on his wrists.

Yasuo's eyes widened as he saw this boy and he immediately understood the situation. He understood what this boy was and the purpose that he served in this entire situation.

"My replacement?" Yasuo asked, his voice wavering for a single moment. The man with the bandaged face smirked as he saw Yasuo's realization. The man with the bandaged head simply nodded in response to Yasuo's question and proceeded to laugh again.

"His name is Fuu and unlike you, he's gone through actual training with his seals. I can assure you that you'll fall to his blade, boy." the man said, using his good hand to push Fuu forward by his back.

Fuu stepped forward almost mechanically and looked at Yasuo with eyes that were almost devoid of life. The black haired boy did not speak. He did not even give off any killer intent. To Yasuo, it just seemed as though the boy was a lifeless shell.

"Before we start this, tell me... How did you recognize me?" the bandaged man asked.

"The Hidden Leaf told me about you and about what you did to me..." Yasuo answered quickly enough, making sure not to take his eyes off of Fuu. "All I needed to do was ask the Hokage for information on you. Considering who you are, the Hokage had no problems with sharing information about you with me. I got pictures of a man with a deformed face and I even got a shot of you wearing a bandage mask, just like the one you have on now. The Hokage even supplied me with recordings of conversations that you were a part of. Tell me... how did _you_ recognize _me?_"

"The sword. I personally picked out the best weapons in my disposal for you to become one with. _Kuroi Kiba _was one of my personal favorites. The fact that you used it against me made it easy enough to figure out who you are."

"Should I assume that you want it back?"

"I want _it_ back, along with the nine others that are bound to you. They will be given to your replacement and I will have the most powerful human weapon at my disposal... once I get the Sharingan, that is. Now, kill him, Fuu."

As the last part was said, Yasuo reacted first. He made a hand seal and applied chakra to the seal on his right wrist, summoning Kuroi Kiba in his hand. Fuu summoned a weapon, as well. Unlike Yasuo, however, he did not have to make the hand seal. In a split second, the weapon automatically appeared in the black haired boy's hand. It was a plain katana with a jagged edge. In comparison to Yasuo's weapon, Fuu's sword was much less appealing.

_He was able to summon a sword without making a hand seal and applying the chakra to the summoning seal like I have to... _Yasuo thought, trying to figure out how this kid could have done that. Before he could figure it out, however, Fuu charged in and started his own attack.

2

Keiji and Yutaka raced through the forest following behind Azumi, who was following the same blood trail that Yasuo had been following. With her Sharingan, she was able to see the blood trail much more easily than Yasuo had been able to in the dark, so they were actually moving pretty quickly. As they ran, they talked.

"Keiji." Azumi said to Keiji only about a minute after they had left Takeshi and the caravans. "You're like his best friend, right? How does Yasuo know the guy with the bandage mask?"

Keiji was surprised that Azumi had even asked him about Yasuo. She had never seemed to express an interest in Yasuo, before. Sure, knowing that kind of information could prove useful in a situation like this, but Keiji had a feeling that it was a little bit more than that.

"I dunno. Yasuo never told me about Bandage Face before, so I don't know how he knows the guy." Keiji responded. He wasn't lying to Azumi to protect Yasuo's secrets or anything. Yasuo hadn't told Keiji anything about a guy like this.

Azumi stayed silent for a few moments out of disappointment before asking something else. She had noticed that the three lackeys back at the caravan who she had taken down were all able to summon weapons in a similar fashion to Yasuo. She thought that maybe their technique could be connected to Yasuo's technique.

"Do you know how he got those seals on his body, then?" Azumi asked, hoping that Keiji would know.

This was something that Yasuo had explained to Keiji before. When Keiji and Yasuo were little, Keiji had noticed some of the seals on Yasuo's body and had questioned them. Yasuo didn't have many actual friends other than Keiji, so he confided in him pretty quickly and told him about the seals.

"No. I don't." Keiji lied, not wanting to spill Yasuo's secrets to Azumi or Yutaka. Keiji had managed to earn Yasuo's trust and had no intentions of going against Yasuo's will. If Yasuo had wanted other people to know about the seals on his body, then he would have already explained it to the people who had asked him about them.

Azumi sighed as Keiji said no, disappointed about not being able to get any information regarding Yasuo's technique.

_**You actually do know, don't you? **_The Juubi asked from within Keiji. The Juubi's voice startled Keiji briefly, as he hadn't heard its voice for a while now.

_Yeah, I do. I'm not telling these guys, though, because Yasuo wouldn't want me to, _Keiji mentally responded. The group of Genin continued to move through the forest in silence, now, leaving Keiji to talk to the Juubi in peace.

_**How did your friend get the seals on his body? **_The Juubi asked, unsure if Keiji would actually tell it anything. Keiji didn't see a problem with telling the Juubi this information. After all, it lived inside of his body. If it wanted to, it could probably find out on its own. It's also not like it's going to go around telling everyone, either.

_His dad was a notorious bandit before Yasuo was born. He was a really smart guy apparently, so I guess that's where Yasuo gets his brains from. Anyway, he experimented on people a lot. He was trying to turn a person into a weapon, I think. He was part of a clan that experimented on a bunch of people and then the Leaf found out and tried to stop them. I'm guessing that he didn't have much time before the Leaf showed up, so he experimented on his one year old son quickly and put the seals all over Yasuo's body. When he finished, the Leaf must have showed up and chased the guy away, taking Yasuo away from his douchebag dad and capturing most of the clan, _Keiji explained as he ran through the forest behind a quiet Azumi and beside a quiet Yutaka. They were both probably focusing on the task at hand. _I was his first friend here. When we were ten, I saw one of the seals on his wrist and I thought it was a tattoo so I was all like, "Whoa, Yasuo! Where did you get that tattoo?" That was sorta when he told me everything. I was his first friend here, so he confided in me. Some higher-up told him about what had gone down out of pity, so that's how he knew about everything._

_**Do you think that this and what's going on now could be connected? That's what your Uchiha friend seems to think, **_the Juubi asked, not seeming to be too concerned with Yasuo's past.

_I dunno. I mean... they could be connected, if this guy is Yasuo's dad. Wanting to kill him is kind of extreme, though... _Keiji thought.

_**Even though his dad tried to turn him into a weapon right before allowing the Leaf to take him away? **_

_Family's family, and this guy could be the only family that Yasuo has left. He's letting his hatred take control..._

_**And what's so bad about hating someone who wronged you?**_

_Only the weak succumb to it... True heroes don't need hate in their hearts._

The Juubi was silent after Keiji mentally said this. Keiji didn't know if this was because the Juubi did not want to pointlessly argue with Keiji over this or if it had been emotionally affected by what Keiji had said(his money was on the former instead of the latter), but it didn't make a difference. Keiji believed that what he believed in was right.

He thought that Yasuo was a strong person. He didn't think that there was any way that Yasuo would let his hate control him. Keiji didn't think that Yasuo would actually kill his father.

_**What if he fully intends to? What will you do, then? **_The Juubi asked, surprising Keiji a bit. He had thought that the Juubi would be finished with this.

_If he intends to kill his dad, then I'll stop him. It's as simple as that. _Keiji mentally responded, noticing that Azumi starting to come to a stop.

Keiji and Yutaka stopped behind Azumi and watched as her gaze followed the blood trail. The blood trail seemed to finally come to an end over by an uprooted bush that lay beside a metal trapdoor that appeared to lead underground.

"Do you think he's down there?" Yutaka asked. The uprooted bush itself was somewhat unsettling and it, along with the entire situation, seemed to make Yutaka slightly nervous.

"There's only one way to find out. Let's go." Azumi said, starting towards the trapdoor.

3

Fuu attempted to slash at Yasuo with his sword. Yasuo reacted quickly enough and parried the slash with his own sword, keeping one hand behind the blade to steady it. Fuu's attack was very basic and Yasuo was able to tell simply based on how easily he was able to parry it. This kid didn't seem to have a will of his own. Yasuo was able to determine that by the look in the kid's eyes and by how quickly he responded to the bandaged man's order.

_He said to kill me. If this kid doesn't have a will of his own, then why would he start with such a basic attack? Why not just go all out from the start? _Yasuo thought, pushing his blade against Fuu's katana. Fuu was trying to overpower Yasuo's guard, but he was clearly physically weaker than Yasuo was.

Yasuo spat on the ground and decided that he would take the offensive. He couldn't let this guy get the upper hand. He had no idea what this kid was capable of and he didn't want to find out. The quicker that he could finish this fight, the quicker he would be able to kill his actual target.

Yasuo, while still blocking Fuu's slash with his sword, brought his knee up and drove it into Fuu's gut. The kid let out a cry of pain and let up on his attack. Yasuo used this opportunity to step forward, no longer having to worry about guarding against Fuu's slash, and slammed his own fist into Fuu's face. The force of the attack was enough to knock Fuu back, but the kid was still standing.

Fuu seemed to recover from both of Yasuo's attacks quickly and charged at him again, attempting to get Yasuo with another basic slash.

Yasuo didn't understand how this kid even thought that he could win. Attacking wildly with basic and predictable attacks would never work. Yasuo brought his sword up and positioned it so he could block the incoming diagonal slash. The two swords never made contact. Fuu's katana disappeared from his hand before the two swords could clash.

The disappearance of Fuu's katana caught Yasuo off guard. Yasuo found himself more focused on the question of why Fuu would intentionally retreat during his own attack. When he saw a dagger appear in Fuu's other hand, Yasuo understood why. It was too late, by then, to react to the eminent attack.

Fuu used the dagger to swiftly move past Yasuo's guard, using the momentary confusion caused by the disappearance of the katana to his advantage, and sunk the blade into Yasuo's stomach.

The attack seemed to happen in slow motion for Yasuo. When he got stabbed, his eyes widened and he let out a scream. Kuroi Kiba disappeared from Yasuo's hand as the blood dripped from his wound and reddened his shirt.

Fuu pulled the bloodied dagger out of Yasuo's stomach and wiped the crimson off of the blade with the palm of his hand. There was no pleased expression on Fuu's face. There wasn't even a disgusted look on his face. He looked as if he wasn't even aware of what he was doing.

Yasuo put a hand on the gash on his stomach and winced. He had never been stabbed before, so the shock was probably greater than the actual pain was.

_Dammit... Fighting him with weapons is pointless... He can switch weapons so quickly... _Yasuo thought, looking at Fuu. Fuu had sent the dagger back to wherever his weapons were being summoned from and reequipped the katana.

Yasuo brought his hands out in front of him. He started to make the hand seals for _Raiton: Denryu. _After he cast the hand seals for the jutsu, electricity started to course throughout his body. He made another hand seal after the jutsu had been performed and used this hand seal to summon Kuroi Kiba. The electricity was not potent enough to start coursing through the blade of the sword, yet.

"I have nothing against you, but I have to take you down..." Yasuo said to Fuu, who did not acknowledge that he even heard Yasuo's words. The two boys proceeded to charge towards one another, each one preparing to slash at the other.

When they met, they unleashed their own slash and the two swords clashed once again. Yasuo pushed against Fuu's katana, trying to overpower the other boy and Fuu did the same to Yasuo in an attempt to overpower him. Fuu let go of the katana with one hand, managing to hold back Yasuo's attack with one hand just long enough to summon the dagger in his free hand.

Yasuo watched as Fuu summoned the dagger in his free hand and knew that Fuu would try to attack him with it while he was focused on the katana. Fortunately, it was for a situation like this that Yasuo had activated _Raiton: Denryu. _He instantly started to pour his chakra into the technique, causing his body to resonate with electricity more powerfully. The electricity became more and more intense and started to course through Kuroi Kiba, passing through Yasuo's sword and into Fuu's katana. The electricity moved through Fuu's katana and into his body, electrocuting him instantly. Yasuo smirked as he saw his technique work as he planned.

Fuu sent the dagger back in the midst of being electrocuted and summoned a second katana into his hand instead. The blade was facing down towards the ground. Resisting the brunt of Yasuo's attack as much as he could, Fuu stabbed into the ground beneath him with the second katana. The electricity was able to move from the first katana and into Fuu's body, moving then from his body and into the second katana, and finally moving from the second katana and into the ground. Fuu successfully directed the electricity out of his body, avoiding the electrocution altogether.

"Dammit!" Yasuo yelled, pulling back and moving away from Fuu. Fuu moved quickly, however. He left the second katana behind and in the ground and moved towards the retreating Yasuo, slashing at his chest.

Yasuo's eyes widened again. This time, it wasn't because of Fuu's incoming attack. A female figure had appeared in the space between Fuu and Yasuo and managed to slam her heel into Fuu's face before he could fully execute his slash. The kick knocked Fuu backwards, sending him onto his back.

"Didn't think I'd find you getting your ass handed to you, Arai." the girl said to Yasuo. He recognized this voice almost immediately upon hearing it.

"Azumi." Yasuo said, Keiji and Yutaka walking up beside her almost immediately after. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're here to bring you back. Takeshi-sensei's orders." Keiji said as he cracked his knuckles. Keiji's gaze moved from Fuu and over to the man with the bandaged face, who he presumed to be Yasuo's dad. "Is he the guy who gave you the seals on your body, Yasuo?"

Yasuo was surprised to hear Keiji ask this. He didn't think that Keiji would have already been able to make this kind of connection.

"Yeah... He's the guy I told you about when we were kids..." Yasuo said, being discreet as to not let Azumi or Yutaka on to the fact that this man was his father.

"Perfect. You're hurt, so I'll kick his ass for you-" Keiji started to say. Yasuo grabbed Keiji by the shoulder and spun him around so they were facing each other.

"**No. **This is my fight and I have to get my revenge. He has to die by my hands. It's all he deserves."

Keiji looked into Yasuo's eyes as he spoke. He could almost see the fiery hate burning within Yasuo's eyes, and it honestly made him feel a little sad. He had always thought that Yasuo was better than this.

"Killing him is going to ruin you, Yasuo. You can't let your hate for this guy consume you. This guy is your... you know..." Keiji said in a hushed tone, as if it made any difference considering how close both Azumi and Yutaka were to them. "How do you think you're going to feel knowing that you killed him? You'll be relieved for the moment, but then you'll realize that you're no better than a kid acting on impulse."

"What do you know, Keiji? You weren't the one who got branded with these seals. You weren't the one someone tried to turn into a weapon. I have to show him that he can't just experiment on people or use them for his own purpose!"

"And do you think he'll learn this lesson if he's dead?" Keiji asked. This question seemed to hit Yasuo the hardest. It seemed to shift something inside of his mind. "Killing him isn't the way. If you really have to make him pay, then kick his ass and leave him to dwell on the fact that he lost to a couple of kids. That will be much more satisfying."

Yasuo seemed to think over what Keiji said to him for a few moments before nodding. "Alright. We'll beat him together, then." he said, knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to defeat his dad after being stabbed and using up quite a bit of his chakra.

Keiji looked over to Azumi and Yutaka after convincing Yasuo to not kill his own dad.

"We're going to handle the big guy! We'll be counting on you guys to beat this one." Keiji said with a grin.

"Fine. You're explaining everything to us later, though." Azumi said, narrowing her eyes at the white haired boy. She knew that Keiji knew more than he told her back while they were running through the forest. The conversation that she had heard between Keiji and Yasuo proved it.

Yutaka wasn't really concerned with the little things, such as Yasuo's personal relationship between the man with the bandaged face. Yasuo had been known as one of the toughest Genin in their graduating group. If he wasn't able to stand up to this black haired kid with the sword, then this fight would likely be interesting.

"It's not really up to me. Sorry~" Keiji said, grabbing Yasuo by the arm and starting towards the man with the bandaged face.

4

Zaku Arai stood on the end of the room farthest from the entrance. The fight between his son and Fuu started out as he planned. Yasuo was incapable of fighting back against Fuu's technique. The two boys shared similar talents, in being able to summon weapons that are bound to their bodies by the use of summoning seals. The only difference between the two of them was the fact that Fuu had been personally trained by Zaku and Zaku, being the one who initially researched the use of summoning seals, understood a much better way use the summoning seals than Yasuo did. Zaku passed this method onto Fuu and even though Yasuo was clearly physically superior to his hunger ridden opposition, Fuu's technique execution was superior to Yasuo's, which put him ahead.

Fuu had negated Yasuo's jutsu in a very skillful way and made Yasuo retreat, using that moment to get off a final blow. Zaku hadn't expected the Uchiha girl or the other two boys to show up and intervene, however. This situation was perfect, though. Now, he would be able to acquire both the Sharingan and the ten weapons that were currently in Yasuo's possession.

They spoke for a few minutes. Zaku allowed them the chance to talk, keeping Fuu from intervening. He was already outnumbered, so he would have to take these next few steps carefully. He could easily retreat through the door behind him. It was concealed by the shadows, but it led to a hallway which, when followed, led to a second exit. Running away would make him look extremely weak, though.

Fuu could probably handle two of them and Zaku may be able to take on his son and another one. Zaku may have potentially temporarily lost the use of one of his arms, but Yasuo was also injured and couldn't possibly have much chakra left.

_How can I split them up, though? _Zaku thought, a response coming to him in the form of Keiji and Yasuo.

Keiji and Yasuo both stepped towards Zaku. Keiji had told the other two, the Uchiha and the black haired kid, to take care of Fuu.

_Perfect. Didn't even have to do anything. _Zaku thought, his hand touching his bandaged shoulder lightly. Fuu had performed first aid on the wound, but the injury had been too deep for that to make much of a difference. The pain was still great and blood was already beginning to seep through the bandages.

"Ready?" Keiji said seemingly to no one in particular. Even Yasuo was slightly confused as to who Keiji was talking to. He figured it out shortly after Keiji spoke, though. Zaku thought that Keiji was speaking to him, but found that to be extremely unlikely.

Keiji's body disappeared in an instant and reappeared in front of Zaku. Keiji's body was coated in an aura of dark chakra. He grabbed Zaku by the face and lunged forward, lifting the bandaged man up off of the ground with a single hand and dragging his airborne body along. Keiji pushed Zaku ahead of him and slammed him through the door that was directly ahead of them, continuing on down the hallway that they now entered. There was another door at the end of the hall. Keiji slammed Zaku through this door and finally released his grip on the man's face, tossing him onto the ground before him.

_Wow. You were right, Juubi. There was a door, there, _Keiji thought with a smirk. The Juubi had told Keiji about the door that had been behind Zaku moments before Keiji launched his attack. Keiji had simply improvised on the spot after learning of the door's existence, in order to move this fight away from Azumi and Yutaka.

Yasuo ran through the first destroyed doorway, down the hall, and then through the second destroyed doorway after making sure that Keiji's attack was finished. He ran up beside Keiji and came to a stop.

"I swear, that chakra is ridiculous." Yasuo said, his hand pressed down on his injured stomach. "Do you have a plan to beat this guy? I don't know what he can do, so I can't really come up with a plan to counter anything."

"Depends. How much chakra do you have left?"

"Enough to summon a weapon a few times, I guess."

"Do you have enough to use that jutsu of yours?"

"I can probably use it two more times. Why?"

"I kinda want to try something. It'll look really cool." Keiji said, struggling to fight back a grin. Yasuo had a feeling that what Keiji wanted to try would involve the Juubi's chakra and some ridiculous attack. He didn't see where the _Raiton: Denryu _could come into play with any of Keiji's attacks, but he really had no choice but to go along with Keiji's plan. They had nothing else, after all.

"Alright. Just make sure it's enough to beat him." Yasuo said, noticing his father begin to stand up. He had honestly started to hope that the man would stay down. Being slammed through two solid doors should have been enough to cripple him.

Zaku was now standing up. His eyes were barely open. The bandages had nearly torn off of his head and his shoulder. He had several new wounds all over his body.

"What the hell is this kid..?" he thought out loud, observing Keiji as he spoke. Zaku had seen the black chakra around the kid's body moments before the attack. Now, the chakra seemed to be gone from the boy's body. Was it some kind of technique or was he simply hallucinating? "You know, son... You got lucky with your attack. Do you see this stitching on my body?"

His hand ran over the primary stitching that took up most of his chest. It ran vertically down the center of his chest and stopping right above his stomach. Yasuo had noticed this during their first encounter, but felt that it couldn't have been too important.

"If you had stabbed me anywhere other than my shoulder before, it wouldn't have worked. I don't only experiment on other people, you see..." Zaku explained, his fingers running over the stitching on his chest lightly. "There's a layer beneath my skin covering most of my body. This second layer can absorb the force of most attacks, even including bladed ones. Think of it as a steel body armor that I can wear at all times."

Yasuo found this to be odd and disgusting that the man would experiment on himself to this degree. Keiji didn't care at all, to be honest.

"Doesn't matter if you have body armor made of diamond underneath your skin. I'll smash your armor and I'll kick your ass." Keiji said, looking to Yasuo once. The two of them nodded and decided to begin the fight.

Keiji charged towards the man. The room was pretty small, seeing as it was only really meant to be used as an exit, so Keiji reached Zaku very quickly. Yasuo ran towards him at the same time that Keiji did, however he moved around to Zaku's back. Yasuo grabbed both of Zaku's arms, the man showing no actual signs of resistance. While Yasuo temporarily disabled Zaku's movement, Keiji slammed his fist into Zaku's chest.

A moment after Keiji's fist made contact with Zaku, let out a scream. The spot that Keiji had hit on Zaku's chest had torn open, blood dripping out of the strange wound. Beneath the skin was a strange dark gray substance, likely the body armor that Zaku had been talking about. The dark gray substance had changed its shape and formed into spikes beneath Keiji's fist, jutting outwards almost instantly and piercing through Keiji's hand.

The spikes had not pierced through Keiji's entire arm, lucky for him. They had pierced through his index, middle, and ring fingers and sliced up the underside of his arm, retreating seconds after.

Keiji had stumbled backwards, grabbing his wounded hand with his uninjured one. He couldn't move any of his fingers without causing them intense pain.

"What... What the hell?" Keiji groaned, glaring at the enemy in front of him. The spikes had already retreated back inside of Zaku's body. The wound which had been created when the spikes exited his body to attack Keiji was still there, but the bleeding itself had stopped.

"I'm a weapon fanatic. Did you think that this armor was only made for defensive purposes?" Zaku asked with a laugh. A thin gray spike jutted out from his back, piercing through his own skin and stabbing into Yasuo's chest.

Yasuo let out a cry as the spike stabbed into his chest, staggering backwards after it pulled itself out. This was his second time being stabbed. If the spike hadn't been thin, it would have actually caused him some serious pain.

"Keiji..." Yasuo called out to his injured friend. "Get on with your plan already, before he kills us both."

5

Azumi and Yutaka were both dumbfounded when Keiji slammed Zaku through the door with a strength that couldn't have possibly been his own. Fuu didn't seem to be fazed by what had happened to Zaku. Yasuo, for some reason, didn't seem to be surprised at all. Azumi found this strange, but unsurprising. If Keiji had been harboring some hidden strength or power, it would only be natural that his teammates would know about it.

After Yasuo had run through the demolished doorway after Keiji and Zaku, Azumi looked to Yutaka and both of them shrugged. They then looked at Fuu.

Azumi saw summoning seals on Fuu's body that resembled the one on Yasuo's wrist and she also saw that he was holding a katana in his hand. She automatically concluded that Fuu was able to summon weapons in a similar manner to Yasuo, seeing as those lesser enemies by the caravans were able to do the same thing.

"We gonna use that strategy, Azumi?" Yutaka asked, keeping his eyes on Fuu. This kid was probably dangerous, if he was able to back Yasuo up into a corner.

"Yeah. Just try to be careful with your ability. We both know how dangerous it could be to use." Azumi said. Yutaka nodded and proceeded to make a few hand seals. After the last hand seal was cast, he held his fists up by his face. "He can probably summon weapons, like Arai can. That means that he'll probably have to make a hand seal and apply the chakra to a summoning seal on his body to summon it. I'll keep an eye out for when he does that and let you know. You just look for an opening and restrain him."

"I'll start things off, then!" Yutaka said with another nod. His body disappeared from sight and reappeared behind Fuu. He threw a single punch at the back of Fuu's head, but the boy spun around quickly and held the katana up directly in the line of Yutaka's punch. The sharp edge was facing Yutaka's fist, so if he kept the punch going, he would hit the sharp edge of the blade directly and slice up his hand.

Yutaka's body disappeared again before the punch could hit the blade and reappeared in front of Fuu, now. Yutaka connected a punch with Fuu's face, two more with his chest, and slammed his fist into Fuu's gut. He pulled his fist back after landing the last hit and kicked Fuu in the side of the head, sending him sprawling onto the ground.

"This is too easy." Yutaka said with a laugh, watching as Fuu stood up. The boy didn't speak and he didn't even cry out in pain when he got hit. He was very strange. "If this is all you've got, then I don't understand how Yasuo could have been having a hard time with you."

All of a sudden, Fuu sprinted towards Yutaka and slashed at him with the katana. Yutaka easily evaded the attack, but Fuu kept trying. Slash after slash after slash, Yutaka evaded each one. Yutaka saw an opening between slashes and slipped in quickly, landing another punch on Fuu's face. This punch knocked Fuu back onto the ground.

Yutaka shook his hand out in the air before him after landing the punch. Every single attack, so far, had been executed at full power. He didn't hold back at all. They had even caused his knuckles to start bleeding. Yutaka didn't notice the bleeding until he looked at his hands, though. That was the beauty of his technique.

The jutsu that Yutaka was using was a Kinjutsu that had been passed down through the Taijutsu users of his family. It was a technique that allowed one to practically numb their entire body, making it so they feel no pain. This technique helped out with Taijutsu because a normal person would hold back whenever the possibility of injuring themselves came into existence. This technique allowed a Taijutsu user to execute all of their attacks at the fullest power possible and it allowed a Taijutsu user to keep fighting until their body became disabled. The downside to this technique, what made it a Kinjutsu, was the fact that it was difficult to be aware of damage that you take when you cannot feel it, and that caused careless users to get killed much more easily.

Fuu got back onto his feet after taking the powerful punch from Yutaka. His body was starting to show signs of weakness, swaying being one of the more prominent signs. Fuu started to move towards Yutaka, slowly gaining speed as he moved. When he was right in front of Yutaka, he thrust the katana forward and plunged the blade into Yutaka's chest.

Yutaka paid the blade no mind and grabbed Fuu by the wrist as soon as he stabbed Yutaka with the katana. Yutaka spun Fuu around and grabbed his other wrist with his free hand.

"Do it, Azumi!" Yutaka shouted to the black haired girl who had moved into the space in front of the immobilized Fuu and Yutaka.

Azumi made several fast hand seals and held a cupped hand to her mouth. She blew a short burst of breath into the cupped hand and shot a spear of flames at Fuu. The fire spear stabbed into his chest and lit him on fire. Yutaka let go of his wrists and used his foot to push the burning Fuu forward, knocking him onto the ground in the process.

Fuu let out a scream as his body was incinerated. His screams died out at around the same time that the flames did, which was in about thirty seconds.

"That was too easy..." Azumi said, looking to Yutaka. He was starting to pull the katana blade out of his chest. She reached into her beige pouch and pulled out a roll of bandages.

"Maybe for you. I had to take a sword to the chest. This is gonna hurt later..." Yutaka said, pulling the bloody sword out of his chest. He tossed it onto the ground with disgust and took the bandages when Azumi offered them. He removed his shirt and started to wrap the bandages around his chest, covering the wound as well as he could. After he finished, he put his shirt back on and looked at Azumi. "Let's wait here for Yasuo and Keiji to finish with the other guy."

Azumi nodded in agreement and turned away from Yutaka. She looked at the desks in the room and saw that there were a bunch of papers on most of them. Curiosity got the best of her and she walked over to one desk, picking up a sheet of paper and reading what was on it.

6

Keiji stood on one side of Zaku and Yasuo stood on the other. They were both bleeding from different parts of their bodies. Neither of them had expected Zaku to have this kind of strange ability hidden within his body. Yasuo had realized just how luck he had gotten with Keiji, Azumi, and Yutaka showing up the way they had. He never would have been able to defeat Fuu and then proceed to fight this monster all on his own. The only effect that Zaku's ability caused Keiji was the pain of having an arm get sliced up.

"You're not the only one with a trick up your sleeve, you know..." Keiji spat, nearly glaring at Zaku intensely.

_Juubi. Lend me your chakra one more time. A little bit more than usual too, this time... _Keiji thought. The Juubi responded by lending Keiji its chakra. The black chakra started to leak out of Keiji's body quickly, soon overtaking it completely. The chakra was much thicker than usual, gaining the appearance of goo. A full on chakra cloak formed around Keiji's body within a minute. There was a single tail formed at his rear.

"This is perfect..." Keiji said, his voice sounding as though he was under water.

Zaku started at Keiji's transformation with amazement. The Sharingan and the summoning seals were both great in their own right, but this transformation was downright amazing. It was as if he was tapping into some kind of latent power.

"You're a Jinchuuriki, aren't you?" Zaku asked, knowing full well that the Hidden Leaf Village should only have the Kyuubi and that this transformation didn't fit the description of a Kyuubi transformation.

"You got it." Keiji said with a smirk, his entire body disappearing. Keiji reappeared in front of Zaku, the ground cracking beneath his feet where he appeared. Keiji threw a single punch at Zaku and managed to connect the punch with Zaku's chest before the man could even realize what Keiji had done. The punch hit Zaku, but there didn't seem to be any force behind it. The chakra-cloaked fist simply rested on Zaku's bare chest.

As Keiji started to pull his fist away from Zaku's chest, more confused than anything, he noticed that the spot that he had hit on Zaku's chest had blackened. The skin had become black where the chakra cloak around Keiji's body had touched. Zaku noticed this and started to freak out when he saw that the blackened flesh start to burn away.

"What the hell..." Keiji asked under Zaku's screams. Only the small amount of blackened flesh had burned away, but it was an extremely painful process that neither Zaku nor Keiji understood.

_**That is how my chakra is tainted. The taint within the chakra corrodes whatever it touches, except for its host, of course. It can corrode other substances and it can also taint your techniques, turning them into something completely different... The jutsu spawned from the taint in my chakra will be based on what you will it to be... During the first time, you wanted the jutsu to exhibit the immense power that my chakra can grant you, so the jutsu became powerful enough to destroy the rock wall... **_the Juubi said in Keiji's mind, explaining what had just happened. Keiji remembered what the Juubi was talking about by the last point. After he had gotten out of the hospital, he accessed the Juubi's chakra to show off to Yasuo and Kurizu and used a jutsu. His jutsu had changed completely, allowing him to obliterate a rock wall. This gave Keiji an idea.

_I was just going to douse him with water and have Yasuo use his Raiton attack to beat him, but that might not work... If I can do this right, we can definitely beat him in one go! _Keiji thought, making a hand seal.

Yasuo saw that Keiji was starting to use a jutsu and decided to take ensuring the perfect execution of the jutsu into his own hands. He quickly moved into the space between his friend and his father.

The corrosion was painful, but Zaku soon dismissed the pain completely. He could see that Keiji was starting to use a jutsu and could not allow the kid to use it. A jutsu executed while under the influence of the chakra of a Bijuu would be extremely dangerous.

About a dozen dark gray spikes jutted out of his chest, nearly shredding his remaining skin in the process. The spikes moved out and went around Yasuo, heading directly for Keiji.

Yasuo made a hand seal and applied chakra to a seal on his body.

"Kuroi Kiba!" Yasuo shouted, the black blade appearing in his hand. He used the blade to slash through four of the dark spikes to his right before dispelling it in a small cloud of smoke. Yasuo proceeded to make another hand seal and applied the chakra to two more seals on his body.

"Chi to Namida!" Yasuo used the twin daggers to slash through a gray spike that had gone over his head, spinning to his left and cutting through two more gray spikes. There was a gray spike that was out of his reach ahead of him, so Yasuo threw both daggers at the spike. Both daggers hit the spike simultaneously, effectively shattering it. Both daggers disappeared in a cloud of smoke after they broke their target.

Yasuo made another hand seal and applied the chakra to two more seals on his body, summoning two katanas, one in each hand. Each katana had a beautiful silver blade and a black cloth wrapped around their hilts.

"Fukō no Saigai!" Yasuo used these two katanas to carve through several gray spikes around him. He slashed through one on his left with the blade in his left hand and used the blade in his right hand to slash through a completely different spike, using this method to slash through eight more spikes. Both katanas disappeared in small clouds of smoke.

All of the gray spikes which Zaku had intended to impale Keiji with were now laying on the ground in small pieces. Yasuo was panting heavily. He had nearly summoned all of the weapons in his arsenal. It had consumed a large amount of chakra. He wasn't sure if he would be able to use _Raiton: Denryu _when Keiji needed him to.

Keiji was too busy focusing on performing the jutsu to see Yasuo's excellent display of defensive combat. He made all five hand seals and created a water sphere in front of him. The sphere of water was about the size of his fist. It was much smaller than he thought it would be, but he was sure that this technique would work.

Keiji reached out and grabbed the small ball of water in his right hand. The ball of water seemed to attach itself to the chakra cloak that was around Keiji's hand, so he didn't even need to actually grip the sphere of water.

"Alright, Yasuo. Get ready!" Keiji exclaimed as his body disappeared once again, reappearing in front of Zaku again.

"What are you-" Zaku began to ask. Keiji didn't give him the chance to finish speaking. He thrust his arm forward and slammed the small sphere of water into Zaku's gut. The sphere of water seemed to sink into Zaku's body as it made contact with it. Keiji backed away and within a few moments, the water sphere started to enlarge and exit Zaku's body, forming a larger sphere of water which now encased Zaku.

"Osen sa Reta: Suiro no Jutsu." Keiji said, backing away from the large sphere of water. Zaku appeared to be struggling in the large water sphere, but the density of the water made it impossible for him to move.

Yasuo walked up next to Keiji and let out a sigh. Yasuo had been right about Keiji's plan. It involved the Juubi's chakra and a ridiculous technique.

"I barely have enough chakra to do this. I got lucky." Yasuo said, making the hand seals for his jutsu. Electricity coursed through his body as soon as he cast the final hand seal. Yasuo leaped up into the air and plunged both of his arms into the sphere of water, also pouring enough of his remaining chakra into his jutsu to make the electricity more virulent. The electricity surged through the sphere of water, effectively electrocuting Zaku. His screams could barely be heard through the dense sphere of water.

When Yasuo was sure that Zaku was finished, Yasuo pulled both of his arms out of the sphere of water and fell onto the ground. His chakra was nearly depleted and he was exhausted. Keiji's Juubi cloak had receded back into his body and he, just like Yasuo, was panting heavily.

The sphere of water burst apart when Yasuo fell to the ground, sending a motionless Zaku onto the ground.

Keiji helped Yasuo stand up and the two boys walked back through the demolished doorway, heading back towards Azumi and Yutaka. They saw that Azumi and Yutaka had defeated Fuu as soon as they walked back into the room.

"Let's head back, guys." Keiji said to the others. Yutaka and Yasuo agreed. Azumi was distracted by a sheet of paper that she had picked up from off of one of the desks in the room.

"Yasuo..." Azumi said. Yasuo looked at her, silently answering her. "You wouldn't happen to know what something called **Joka **is, would you?"

"No. What is it?"

"Apparently Zaku Arai, your father I'm guessing, was a part of the organization which referred to itself by the name of **Joka**-"

"Look, Azumi..." Yasuo said, interrupting her. "I'm not interested in learning anything more about him. Let's just drop the subject."

Azumi reluctantly complied to Yasuo's wishes and shoved the sheet of paper into one of her pockets. Yasuo might not be interested, but Azumi was definitely interested in finding out exactly what **Joka **is. With that, the group left the underground cave and headed back to Takeshi and the caravans. Takeshi saw the injuries that each of the Genin had acquired and treated them immediately, having them switch places with Kurizu and Ichiro as they made their way to the village to deliver the supplies. The mission was completed without a hitch from that point on.


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

1

The conjoined squads, which consisted of Keiji, Yasuo, Kurizu, Ichiro, Azumi, Yutaka, and Takeshi, all returned to the Hidden Leaf Village the day after they successfully transported the two caravans to the smaller village which had been raided by bandits. As it turned out, the village had been raided by a small group, one in which all of the members had bladed weapons protruding from their bodies. The man who had appeared to be the leader had bandages covering his entire face. These matched the descriptions of the bandits who Keiji and the team had encountered on their trip. Yasuo and Keiji had both taken down the leader, who had happened to also be Yasuo's father, so the bandits probably no longer posed a threat to the smaller village.

Takeshi had performed some quick healing on Yasuo, Keiji, and Yutaka when they escorted the caravans to the smaller village. They were the ones who had been the most injured during this entire ordeal. Yutaka's injuries were probably the most severe, Yasuo's injuries following right behind Yutaka's, and Keiji's being placed last in seriousness. Yutaka had been impaled with a sword in the chest, but his jutsu had prevented him from feeling any of the pain. Takeshi didn't know this. No one except for Azumi, Ichiro, and Yutaka's family knew about the technique. It was a forbidden technique, so it was best that it was kept a secret from as many people as possible that Yutaka knew the technique.

Once they got back to the Hidden Leaf Village, Takeshi had Yasuo and Yutaka get checked up on at a hospital, just in case there was any internal damage done to them that Takeshi was unable to heal or notice.

Kurizu had been concerned about his friends and what had happened to put them in this state. He and Ichiro had to stay behind to help Takeshi guard the caravans in case any more enemies showed up to attack it. Kurizu had no idea that the man with the bandaged face, Zaku Arai, was Yasuo's father. He had no idea about anything that had gone on. Kurizu decided that while Yasuo was incapacitated, he would resume his Medical Shinobi training under Takeshi.

Takeshi didn't have too great of an understanding of everything, either. Keiji had told the both of them that he and Yasuo found the bandaged man and beat him up, but Takeshi suspected that there was more to it. Yasuo seemed to be a lot more different after the ordeal and Takeshi had picked up on it easily. He was almost positive that something more had gone down than what Keiji had told him.

Upon returning to the village, Takeshi mostly spent his time either training Kurizu, checking on Yasuo's condition, or going about his normal day. During the course of all of this, there were a few things on his mind. For one, the Chuunin Exams were coming up and Takeshi wasn't entirely sure that his squad would be ready for them when the time came to test them for it. Keiji was way too reckless and Yasuo, during the most recent incident with his father, let his emotions guide his actions. What's more, Keiji clearly has some kind of latent power that he pretty much relies on. That kind of thing would cause a definite stir, especially if Keiji was unable to control the power completely. There was the chance that Keiji might accidentally kill some of the other participants if he unintentionally let his power go wild.

The other thing that was on Takeshi's mind for most of the time involved how he would prepare them for the Chuunin Exams. He knew that he would have to do something a bit extreme to force the lessons into the boys, but determining what he could do was complicated.

Azumi, upon returning to the village, decided to do a little research. At Zaku's base of operations, Azumi had gotten her hands on a sheet of paper which linked Zaku Arai to an organization called _Joka. _Mostly out of curiosity, Azumi wanted to find out what Joka was and how Zaku Arai was affiliated with them.

On the day that Yasuo had gotten hospitalized, Keiji had gone and visited him. The two of them talked for a decent amount of time, a part of the conversation mostly being Yasuo complaining about the situation that he was in. They avoided talking about anything that was too serious and instead talked about other topics regarding a variety of different things. Keiji had to leave at about 6PM, which was only a few hours after he had gotten there.

After Keiji had left the hospital on the first day, he proceeded to do some solitary training out in the Third Training Grounds. He trained under the influence of the Juubi's chakra, using the chakra to manipulate his Suiton techniques in different ways. He found that he was able to freely manipulate his initial Suiton technique in whichever way that he wanted to. He could make the water sphere form into a spiked water sphere, he could make the sphere expand, he could alter the density or the temperature of the water, and he could completely change the shape of the water sphere if he wanted to. The Juubi's chakra allowed him to create any number of new techniques branched directly off of his initial technique, _Suiton: Todoroku Nami. _The amount of chakra that gets consumed varies depending on the strength of the technique created.

Keiji's body is not able to withstand more than one tail's worth of the Juubi's chakra at a time, at the moment. Any more than that could cause his body to deteriorate from the sheer power of the chakra. This drastically limits how far he can take manipulating his jutsu, as making it too powerful or too different would require more chakra than he can access.

The Juubi explained all of this to Keiji during the solitary training. It had noticed the effects that using its chakra was having on Keiji's body. Keiji himself had noticed that he had gained a single black streak in his hair since the first time he used the Juubi's chakra. Apparently, according to the Juubi, the chakra is actually dangerous to use, which is something that it had no way of knowing until observing Keiji under the influence of its chakra.

_**If you use too much of the chakra at one time, it causes your body to gradually deteriorate. I've noticed signs of this from inside of your body... It has been happening less and less often, however, the more you use the chakra. My guess is that your body can build up a tolerance to the chakra, so you can withstand using more of my chakra at one time. **_The Juubi had communicated to Keiji mentally after the solitary training. _**I think that the chakra can also corrupt you... You were a different person before your first unintentional use of my chakra... You were confident in your own abilities, sure that you could take down any opponent on your own. Now, you're heavily dependent on a power that is not your own. **_

Keiji had not noticed that anything regarding his personality or attitude had changed from the use of the Juubi's chakra. He didn't entirely care about a physical change as minor as a black streak in his hair, nor did he care if his personality changed slightly. He knew that the Juubi was right, though.

_Juubi. I'm not gonna let your chakra ruin me. You don't have to worry about me. _Keiji thought.

_**Just make sure you know that I won't always be with you to lend you my chakra. Once I gather enough strength to exist in the world outside of your body, I will leave. If you rely on my chakra too much-**_

_Yeah, yeah, I get it. _Keiji thought, crossing his arms as he communicated this to the Juubi. The Juubi remained silent after that and Keiji proceeded to head home. He fell asleep within an hour after he got home and he woke up the next day early in the morning.

The first thing that he did after getting all ready was visit Yasuo in the hospital. Even Keiji knew that Yasuo shouldn't be that badly injured, so his visiting was mainly done because he knew that Yasuo would get very bored. When he got to the hospital to visit Yasuo, they talked for most of the few hours that Keiji stayed. Yasuo told Keiji that he would probably be let out of the hospital tomorrow and that he should probably tell Takeshi-sensei and Kurizu.

Keiji hadn't spoken to either Takeshi-sensei or Kurizu much since they returned to the village. After leaving the hospital for the day, Keiji went to go tell Takeshi and Kurizu about Yasuo's upcoming release from the hospital. He found Takeshi and Kurizu almost as soon as he left the hospital. Takeshi and Kurizu were both walking towards the front doors while Keiji was exiting the hospital. Apparently, Kurizu was spending these days training under Takeshi. They were on their way to the hospital not to visit Yasuo, but to observe several different kinds of medical procedures. Regardless, Keiji passed along Yasuo's message to the two of them and proceeded to head home.

When he returned home, Keiji helped his dad with work around the house for the next few hours. After the work was finished, Keiji went straight to bed. He fell asleep thinking about the conversation he had with the Juubi the previous day. The next day, as Keiji was on his way to the hospital to visit Yasuo for the last time, Azumi intercepted Keiji.

2

There were six figures in a dimly lit room. The room contained a couch, a table that was directly in front of the couch, a counter with a sink, a refrigerator, and several chairs. Two figures were sitting on the couch, three figures were sitting in the single chairs that were scattered around the room, one figure was by the refrigerator pouring a drink into a glass, and one figure was by the only door in the room.

"That's an interesting report. Apparently, the Hidden Leaf Village has two Jinchuuriki instead of one. Not knowing this before we executed our plan might have complicated things. Who are the Jinchuuriki in the Leaf, Cobra?" the man by the door asked. He was looking at the figure standing by the refrigerator.

The figure who had been referred to as Cobra had shoulderlength dark red hair, black eyes, and wore an entirely white outfit with a blue design on the back of the shirt. He took a single sip from the glass in his hand before responding.

"I watched the entire ordeal between the kids and Zagi from the shadows. One of the Jinchuuriki is a twelve year old girl named Midori Sarutobi. She is the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and is primarily a clone user, just like all of the hosts before her were. During the fight with Zagi, she had made contact with the Kyuubi for, what I'm assuming is, the first time." Cobra explained, moving over to the couch. He motioned with a hand for one of the two figures sitting on the couch to move over. When they moved over, Cobra proceeded to sit down. He placed the glass on the table before him and let out a sigh. "The other Jinchuuriki is a white haired boy named Keiji Jakunen. He fights using a kusarigama and, as far as I can tell, knows at least one Suiton technique. He is the new tenth Jinchuuriki. I have no idea what Bijuu he is the host of."

The entire room was quiet after this information had been spoken. The man by the door spoke up and broke the silence.

"They're both kids. As long as we initiate the plan at the proper time, this tenth Jinchuuriki should not be able to get in our way."

"Speaking of the plan, Wrath... How is it coming along?"

The man by the door let out a small chuckle and turned away from the group, now facing the doorway. Wrath wore a gray cloak with the hood up and had a strange mask that concealed his entire face. The details of the mask couldn't be seen with the dim lighting in the room. He wore a plain white long sleeved shirt underneath the cloak and a pair of matching white pants.

"It's coming along well. In just a few short months, we'll be able to launch the attack." Wrath said. "Zero. How is your training going?"

There was a boy, probably fourteen or fifteen years old, sitting in one of the single chairs in the room. He had short blond hair and wore an outfit similar to Cobra's. There were purple markings on the boy's arms and neck.

"Really well. I'm really starting to get the hang of controlling my power." the boy, Zero, said with a grin. Most of the other members in the room let out a sigh as the kid spoke.

"Wrath. I don't understand why you let a kid join our organization. We haven't even seen what this kid can do... You're the only one w-" a woman sitting on the couch started to say.

"Zero was accepted into the organization because he possesses a unique ability that can support our cause. I merely helped awaken his ability. You'll all get to see what Zero is capable of once his training is complete." Wrath explained before the woman could finish speaking. "I'm going to head back to the Hidden Cloud. There's still much that needs to be done before we can execute our plan. Cobra... You're in charge until I get back."

Wrath proceeded to walk through the doorway that he was facing and left the group with his final order.

3

"Azumi?" Keiji asked, looking at the female Uchiha who now stood in his way. He had been walking alongside the road leading to the hospital when Azumi had stopped him. She looked slightly concerned. Considering how she had taken it upon herself to seek out Keiji, it had to have been important. "What's up?"

Azumi was panting a bit. She probably caught sight of him down the road and had to run to catch up with him.

"I did some research on Zaku Arai and the organization _Joka... _the information that was on the sheet of paper I found at the underground hideout..." Azumi began. "I found out some interesting things... I was going to tell Arai himself, but... he made it clear that he wasn't interested in learning anything more about the man. I thought I'd tell you instead..."

Keiji was amazed that Azumi had managed to find some answers in the few days since that incident. Keiji told Azumi that it was alright if she shared the information with him, as long as she could do it while they walked. Azumi agreed to Keiji's terms and pulled a scroll out of the beige pouch on her waist. She opened the scroll and started to read the contents to Keiji. She looked up at Keiji, realizing that she should probably explain to him how she came across this information first.

"I asked the Hokage about Zaku Arai, saying that my sensei needed some information on him regarding this recent incident we had with him... The Hokage provided me with a journal that had been procured when they raided Zaku's base about a decade back. I read the journal and found several instances where the name _Joka _showed up..." Azumi explained. "Apparently, two men who went by the names Cobra and Rage made contact with Zaku and offered him a proposal. They apparently knew about Zaku's research regarding human weaponry and thought that Zaku might make a good addition to their organization. The two men explained their goal to Zaku and offered him a great deal of funding for his research in exchange for his service. Something about their goal intrigued Zaku... He didn't care much for the money. This is where it gets interesting..."

The two Genin walked side by side as Azumi explained her findings to Keiji. Keiji didn't find most of what Azumi was talking about to be very interesting, but he thought it'd be best to stick it out till the end, just in case she brought up something important.

"In the last of the pages of the journal, Zaku talks about Joka's goal. They wanted to hunt down the Jinchuuriki." Azumi said, drawing Keiji's attention almost immediately.

"They were after the Jinchuuriki?" Keiji asked, thinking about Midori. There were probably Jinchuuriki at the time that were around Midori's age, or slightly older. That means that they would have been okay with killing a kid. "Wait... Zaku was a power fiend. He wanted to make the perfect weaponized human, right? What if he only went along with them because he thought that-"

"-he'd be able to steal the Bijuu from the Jinchuuriki? Yup. That's exactly it. Then he saw the power that the other members of the organization had and he chickened out. He knew that he wouldn't be able to steal anything from them, so he left the organization and went into hiding. Joka wanted to eliminate all of the Jinchuuriki about ten years ago, more or less. Do you think they could still be a threat today?"

Keiji stopped walking, Azumi stopping beside him. Keiji seemed to give everything that Azumi said some thought before shaking his head.

"Nah, I wouldn't worry about it. If they've been around for ten years, why would they wait so long before making their move?" Keiji asked with a smirk. "Besides, if they ever do show up to hunt Midori down, I'll be sure to kick all of their asses."

Azumi chuckled a bit at Keiji's remark and then looked at him. "Speaking of which, both you and Arai interest me... In the Chuunin Exams, in a few months... I'm hoping that I get to fight one of you."

"I have been wondering how your Sharingan would do up against my power!" Keiji said with a laugh. "If we do fight during those exams, I won't hold back. I'll expect you to do the same." He held out his fist before Azumi. Azumi nodded and bumped her fist against his. Their conversation ended pretty much after the fist bump and Azumi went her own way, leaving Keiji to continue on to the hospital.

When Keiji reached the hospital, he found Yasuo standing right by the front doors. Apparently, he had already been released and had been waiting for Keiji to show up.

"You're out already? Perfect!" Keiji said, bumping fists with Yasuo.

"Just got released maybe ten minutes ago, too, so your timing wasn't too bad. Let's go and get some food. Your treat." Yasuo said with a smirk, walking past Keiji. Keiji laughed and walked after Yasuo.

The two boys walked down the streets without saying much to each other. The thought of food consumed their attention and they both knew of the perfect place to go and eat, too. They both came to a stop in front of a restaurant which has been around for many, many years.

"Ichiraku." Keiji thought out loud, his voice borderline trembling with excitement. Ichiraku used to be a much smaller establishment. Once Naruto had become Hokage, the ramen shop had undergone a complete transformation. To this day, Ichiraku is a full blown restaurant, complete with tables, booths, menus, music, and servers. Even though the restaurant still mainly specializes in ramen, it is still a very popular place to eat.

Keiji and Yasuo both walked through the entrance to the restaurant and stopped in front of what appeared to be a podium. A woman was standing behind the podium, designated with the task of seating customers.

"Just the two of you?" the woman asked. Keiji nodded and the woman seemed to write something down on a sheet of paper that was on the podium. "I'll take you two to your table." The woman proceeded to turn around and started walking.

Keiji and Yasuo followed behind the woman. They both noticed that the restaurant wasn't as busy as it usually was today. Just under half of the tables and booths were taken. It was a bit surprising, but it only benefited Keiji and Yasuo. This would make it easier for them to get seated.

The woman led Keiji and Yasuo to a booth towards the back of the restaurant. The booth was made to seat a maximum of four people. The seats were a dark blue and the table was the same color. There was a spiral design on the center of the table that seemed to slightly resemble a whirlpool.

Keiji and Yasuo both sat across from one another. The woman placed two menus on the table, one in front of each boy, and proceeded to walk away after telling them that their server would be right with them. A different woman showed up a few minutes later and asked them what drinks they wanted. Keiji asked for a simple glass of water and Yasuo ordered a tea. The woman wrote down their drink orders on a pad, even though they were extremely simple, and proceeded to walk away.

Keiji and Yasuo started to flip through their own menus. There was a large variety of ramen and other sides which took up three of the four pages in the menu. The fourth, and last, page had several deserts listed on it. Keiji and Yasuo both decided on what they wanted to eat and when their server came back with their drinks, they ordered.

"What's Kurizu doing? It would've been cool if the three of us had gone out to eat together." Yasuo said after the server gathered their menus and walked away.

"He's been training with Takeshi-sensei so much, lately, so I wouldn't be surprised if he was doing that right now. He's been really dedicated to getting stronger." Keiji said, taking a gulp of the iced water.

"You think he's training to become a medic?" Yasuo asked, slightly surprised by this. He and Keiji had both known that Kurizu had been training privately with Takeshi. Neither of them had really thought that Kurizu might have been training to become a Medical Shinobi. For all they knew, Takeshi could have been just teaching Kurizu some combat skills. "If he is, then that will be really good. Me and you... we're both the fighters of this team. We fight in different ways, me more tactical and you more powerfully... We definitely need someone other than Takeshi-sensei to support us. I wonder how much progress he's made."

Keiji shrugged his shoulders and laughed a bit. "If he's anything like us, I bet he's already surpassed Takeshi-sensei." Keiji said, the laugh being extended a bit. Yasuo was already exceptional for a Genin due to years and years of training and Keiji was powerful because he had the Juubi sealed within him. They were both probably some of the strongest Genin that had graduated from the Academy this year.

The server came back to the table carrying a tray with two bowls of ramen on it. She placed one bowl in front of Keiji and the other bowl in front of Yasuo. She then reached into one of her pockets and pulled out two sets of chopsticks, placing one in front of each boy, as well.

"Enjoy your meal." the server said in a pseudo-cheery tone. Yasuo and Keiji both nodded and thanked the woman before she walked away. They grabbed their respective sets of chopsticks and split them apart, simultaneously saying "Itadakimasu" as they did this. Promptly after, they began to eat their ramen.

They still talked between mouthfuls of noodle and broth. By the time they had finished the ramen, Keiji had completely forgotten about his conversation with Azumi before he had met up with Yasuo. He had considered sharing the information with Yasuo, whether he wanted to hear it or not, but he got caught up in the food and the conversation and had completely forgotten about Joka and Azumi's research.

The server came back to the table and took the empty bowls, leaving behind a bill in place of them. Keiji reached into a pocket and pulled out enough money to pay for both bowls of ramen and leave a sizable tip for the waitress. He left the money on the table and both boys proceeded to leave the restaurant.

4

Keiji and Yasuo met up with Kurizu and Takeshi the following morning, meeting them at the bench by the village gates. Kurizu and Takeshi spent a decent amount of time checking up on Yasuo, expressing their concern and relief for his well being. Yasuo didn't even understand why they had worried so much. He had only had slight internal damage. It wasn't something that warranted the worry or concern that they were giving him.

After the group had finished checking up on Yasuo, Takeshi started to talk about some slightly more serious things.

"The Chuunin Exams are a few months away and I don't feel that you three are ready for them yet, regardless of your own personal strengths. You still need some more training if you want to even be able to partake in the exams." he explained. "During these next three months, we're going to be going on a lot of missions and I'm going to be training you three in one specific area: Teamwork. You need to be able to depend on one another if you're going to survive in the shinobi world."

The trio didn't argue with this point that Takeshi had made. They all knew that he was right. Keiji and Yasuo were both powerful on their own. They always tried to fight enemies on their own. The only times in which they had actually worked together were during their fight with Takeshi himself and during their fight with Yasuo's dad. Teamwork was definitely an area in which they needed to improve.

"I've already got missions lined up for us for the next few days, so I want you three to use this day to prepare yourselves."

Yasuo, Kurizu, and Keiji all nodded in response to Takeshi's order. They all thought that this would be interesting, doing missions and training sessions back to back. The squad disbanded at that point for the day and went their own separate ways to prepare for the missions and training that would follow.


	10. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

1

The three months of back-to-back missions and teamwork training sessions passed quickly enough. In this time, the members of Squad Three had become more powerful. Kurizu had still undergone his own personal training with Takeshi, so he learned many tricks and techniques required to being a Medical Shinobi, including having precise control over his chakra. He was also able to increase his proficiency with the Bariagan, as well. Keiji managed to develop a few new techniques through the use of the ability to manipulate his own techniques that the Juubi's chakra gave him. Instead of creating ten new techniques, which was physically possible for him, Keiji created three new techniques. If he practiced ten techniques, he might have been somewhat decent with each one by the end of the three months. If he had only practiced three techniques, he'd be better with each technique than he would have been otherwise since he could devote more time to each technique. Yasuo learned a new technique as well, but mainly practiced with his weapons during the three months.

Takeshi was impressed by how strong his three Genin had become in the span of three months and he was almost positive that they were ready to take part in the Chuunin Exams, which were only two weeks away. He needed to test them to make sure that they were able to work together well enough before giving them his decision.

They had met up on this day to do a simple D-Ranked Mission. Takeshi told the three Genin that the Chuunin Exams were coming up soon and that he would have his decision as to whether or not they could participate by the end of the day. What he intentionally neglected to tell them was that he would be testing them during this mission and would be making his decision based on this test.

"What's this mission, Takeshi-sensei?" Yasuo asked, already understanding about the Chuunin Exams and having been made clear on the fact that they would have an answer regarding their participation in the exams by the following day.

"There's a certain type of flower on the outskirts of the village that grows at the edge of a cliff. The flower contains a unique type of toxin that can be used to make antidotes to several different kinds of poisons. The flower has lavender petals and a pale stem. The hospital has been pretty busy lately and hasn't had the opportunity to go and collect the flowers themselves, so they requested that someone go and collect the flowers for them. This mission is simple, so you three can handle it on your own, right?" Takeshi explained.

"Of course we can, Takeshi-sensei." Keiji said, practically overflowing with confidence. "Just out of curiosity, though... Why aren't you coming with us?"

Takeshi smirked a bit as Keiji asked this. "Two reasons. One, you three haven't done a mission on your own since your very first one." Takeshi began. This first reason was nothing more than an excuse and even he knew it. "Two, I'm going to be watching you three. The outcome of this mission will determine whether or not you three will be able to participate in the Chuunin Exams."

Keiji looked over to Yasuo for a moment before nodding. "Alright! So, all we need to do is get those stupid flowers, then? Easy." he said with excitement. He didn't think that a test to get into the Chuunin Exams would be so easy.

Yasuo was a bit sketchy about this, but he kept his mouth shut and retained a calm composure. He didn't want to let Takeshi know that he saw through this test a bit.

"Alright. The flowers grow on _Mitoshi Gake._ Good luck." Takeshi said before he made a hand seal, bursting into smoke and moving to a different location. Yasuo let out a sigh as Takeshi went away.

"Okay, guys. There's obviously going to be something at _Mitoshi Gake_." Yasuo said, first looking to Kurizu and then to Keiji. Kurizu nodded in agreement, but Keiji just looked a bit puzzled.

"Yeah. The test to get into the Chuunin Exams wouldn't be this simple. It's either going to be a bunch of bandits who are conveniently located near where these flowers grow or it'll be Takeshi-sensei himself waiting to try to keep us from getting the flowers." Kurizu said. Keiji felt a bit stupid for not even considering that there could have been some kind of trap waiting for them on _Mitoshi Gake._ "Either way, it'll probably revolve around teamwork in some way. Right, Yasuo?"

"Right." Yasuo agreed, cracking his neck. He was relieved that someone other than himself was also able to see through this mission. Keiji didn't see through it, but that didn't surprise Yasuo at all. "Anyway, let's get going."

Kurizu and Keiji both nodded and followed Yasuo out of the village gates.

2

Squad Three reached _Mitoshi Gake _quickly enough. About fifteen minutes west of the Hidden Leaf Village, there was a pretty large incline that turned into a hill. The top of the hill was large enough to fit forty, or so, people on it. One end of the hill was an incline/decline, depending on which way you were facing. On the opposite end, the hill suddenly became extremely steep and cut off into a cliff. At this end, there was a single tree that hung over the cliff. The tree had dark green leaves on it and had a darkened bark, as well. Small flowers with lavender petals surrounded the base of the tree. Neither boy had ever been to this place before. People rarely came to this hill, mainly because it was a bit too far out of the way from the village and the view itself wasn't too impressive.

The three boys stood across from the tree and looked at the flowers. They were expecting to encounter some kind of enemy or something, but there didn't seem to be anyone around.

"Should we just go and pick the flowers..?" Keiji asked in a whisper. He gripped the handle of his kusarigama, which was wrapped around his torso, tightly.

"Not yet. Let me think..." Yasuo replied, somewhat confused by the current situation. He had been expecting to run into either a group of bandits or a disguised Takeshi, but neither of them appeared to be present. "Okay. I'll go and pick the flowers... You two stay back and keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

Keiji and Kurizu followed Yasuo's order and remained on their side. Yasuo, himself, started towards the tree. He moved carefully, in the event that an enemy was hiding somewhere.

_**Something feels wrong here... **_the Juubi mentally voiced to Keiji. Keiji honestly wasn't expecting to hear from the Juubi during a mission as simple as this.

_What do you mean, Juubi? _Keiji asked, feeling slightly unsettled.

_**Tell him to stop, now! **_The Juubi nearly roared in Keiji's head.

_What? Why? _Keiji asked, starting to feel more and more confused as each second passed by. The Juubi saw that Keiji wasn't going to react quickly enough to stop Yasuo, so it took control briefly.

"Stop! Don't go any closer to them!" the Juubi shouted through Keiji's vocal cords. Yasuo stopped immediately and turned to face Keiji, who was in shock due to the Juubi's actions.

_**The flowers are rigged. I can feel chakra steadily resonating off of them. Somebody set a trap for you three and it probably would have been set off as soon as you touched the stems. **_The Juubi explained to Keiji. _**I have an idea of what kind of trap the person set up... You need to be the one who picks the flowers.**_

___Why? _Keiji mentally asked the Juubi.

_**Whatever the trap is, it's meant to incapacitate whoever tries to pick the flowers. If it's what I think it **__**is, I'll be able to help you out of the trap. If one of your friends gets caught by it, they'll be screwed and whoever set up the trap will have the advantage. They probably won't come out until the trap is sprung, so someone needs to set it off, and that person needs to be you, **_the Juubi explained.

_Alright, I get it. What if it isn't what you think it is, though? And how can you tell all of this?_

_**Try not to think about that... Just do this.**_

__Keiji nodded and looked over at Yasuo. "Let me do this, Yasuo." Keiji said, not wanting to say anything more than that. If there was an enemy nearby, revealing his knowledge of the trap probably wouldn't be a very good idea.

"...alright. This actually might work better. If there is an enemy who's going to jump out and attack, they might catch you off guard." Yasuo said, justifying Keiji's desire to pick the flowers in place of Yasuo. Nodding, Yasuo walked back over to Kurizu and Keiji.

Keiji started towards the flowers, moving at a brisk pace. He knew that the flowers, themselves, were the trap. There was no point in being cautious. If the Juubi knew what it was talking about, the enemy wouldn't make a move until the trap gets set off. The only potential danger worth worrying over was the supposed trap that would be triggered by attempting to pick the flowers. The Juubi said that it would be able to help Keiji out of the trap after it gets set off. What kind of trap could the Juubi help Keiji out of, but not Yasuo or Kurizu?

The Juubi was right, once again. Thinking too much about this was definitely bad for Keiji. It caused him to start imagining the worst possible scenario which could be played out after he touches the flowers. Instead of thinking about the trap, Keiji got down on one knee and grabbed the stem of one lavender flower with the index and thumb of his right hand. As soon as he touched the flower, he felt something resonating off of it. It was probably the chakra that the Juubi had sensed.

Keiji waited there, on one knee, expecting an explosive to be set off on the back of the tree intended to snap the tree and send it crashing on top of him. Nothing seemed to happen, so Keiji tugged on the flower and pulled it out of the ground. He stood up and looked around, the flower in hand, trying to figure out what was supposed to happen. Nothing was happening, so Keiji turned to face Kurizu and Yasuo, but what he saw instead surprised him.

Kurizu and Yasuo were both gone.

_Did someone get them while I picked the flower? _Keiji thought, intending to ask the Juubi this question.

The Juubi did not respond.

_Juubi. Are you still there?_

Still no response.

Keiji began to worry. Kurizu, Yasuo, and now the Juubi were all missing. Not only that, but they seemed to disappear instantaneously and without a trace of them being left behind.

"Dammit! Where are you, guys?!" Keiji shouted, his voice resounding throughout the air around him. He felt like he was in a large, empty room, even though he was outside and on the top of a hill.

After realizing that Yasuo and Kurizu were both gone, Keiji let out a sign and held the lavender flower out in front of him.

"What the hell did you do...?" Keiji asked the flower, as if it would answer him. He let out another sign and tightened his grip around the flower itself, intending to crush it.

As soon as Keiji's grip tightened around the flower, the stem started to extend and wrap itself around Keiji's arm. Keiji let out a cry and stumbled backwards, nearly falling off of the cliff side of the hill. The stem of the flower wrapped itself around Keiji's arm, proceeding to wrap itself around the rest of Keiji's body with the intent of immobilizing him.

"What the hell is this?" Keiji grunted, struggling to break free of the flower's grip. He could not break through the elongated stem of the flower, no matter how much strength he mustered up.

_**I was right. The flower was rigged to send chakra into his body, disturb his own chakra, and trap him within a Genjutsu. **_

__Keiji heard the Juubi speak, but noticed that it didn't seem like the Juubi was speaking to Keiji. It seemed more like the Juubi was speaking to itself or thinking out loud.

_Juubi! This is a Genjutsu?_

The Juubi did not respond to Keiji.

Keiji let out a sigh and stopped struggling. There was no point in wasting any energy if he was actually trapped inside of a Genjutsu. Besides, the Juubi said that it would be able to help him out of this trap. It was best to wait and see what would happen.

3

Kurizu and Yasuo stood side by side, both watching as Keiji made his way over to the flower. They kept a careful watch on Keiji, making sure to also frequently take a look at their surroundings. Kurizu and Yasuo both had an idea of how the enemy's plan would go. The enemy would probably attack one of them while Keiji was picking the flower. It would make the most sense to take out the guards, which would be Kurizu and Yasuo, before attacking the leader, which in this instance would be Keiji.

They watched as Keiji got down on one knee and gripped the stem of one flower with two fingers. After that, Keiji got down onto both knees and fell forward, his head slamming onto the tree trunk itself. Through all of this, Keiji's grip on the flower remained firm.

"What the..." Yasuo muttered after observing what had just happened. He looked over to Kurizu, but he simply shrugged his shoulders as though he didn't understand what had just happened either.

"Keiji!" Kurizu called out. When Keiji didn't respond in any way, Kurizu looked back over to Yasuo. "I don''t know what could have happened. I'll go check to try and figure out what's wrong with him."

Kurizu started towards Keiji. Before he could even move to the halfway point between himself and Keiji, a large figure stepped into the way causing Kurizu to promptly stop. The figure confused Yasuo and Kurizu even more than what had happened with Keiji.

"Is that a... bear?" Yasuo started to ask as the figure removed a straw hat from its head.

The figure was a large bear that stood upright. It had a straw hat on its head, which it now held at its side. The bear had a dark brown pelt. There were quite a few scars on the bear's underside. On its waist, the bear had a sheathed sword.

"Can't let you two pass. Sorry." the bear said in a deep, intimidating voice. Its right paw hovered right by the hilt of the sheathed sword, probably in the event that Kurizu and Yasuo decided to resist.

"Did it just talk?" Yasuo asked, his body feeling tense. It seemed as though this bear was trying to keep Yasuo and Kurizu from getting near Keiji, suggesting that it had something to do with whatever had happened to him.

"Did you have something to do with what's wrong with Keiji?" Kurizu asked, his eyes becoming green with the Bariagan. The bear looked at Kurizu first before looking behind him at the collapsed white haired boy.

"No. I was simply told not to let anyone near whoever tries to take the flowers." the bear said, grabbing the hilt of the blade in a slightly delayed response to Kurizu activating his Bariagan. "I was also told to cut down those who try to get past me."

_I get it now... This bear is a summoned animal... _Yasuo thought. _That means that whoever __summoned it could be close._

Yasuo let out a sigh and made a hand seal, reaching down his shirt to touch a summoning seal that was on his back. As soon as he applied chakra to the seal, a spear appeared in a cloud of smoke in his right hand. Yasuo got into position and prepared to attack the bear.

"If we can't get to our friend, then you're our enemy, bear." Yasuo said as he threw the spear directly at the bear, making sure to aim properly so it wouldn't hit Kurizu, who was standing directly in front of the bear. The bear was a much larger target than Kurizu was, so it wasn't difficult to try to only hit the bear.

The spear was launched through the air with enough power to travel very quickly. The bear saw the attack coming, however, and started to draw its sword. Kurizu saw the bear preparing to counter and dove to the right. The bear drew the sword at the precise moment before the spear made contact with the bear. As it drew the sword, it slashed upwards with the blade, slicing through the spear and splitting it in half. When Yasuo's attack had been properly negated, the bear lunged forward at its attacker.

Yasuo's eyes widened as the bear moved towards him. He summoned Kuroi Kiba and prepared to block the bear's attack. The bear swung the blade at a downward angle and the blade crashed into Kuroi Kiba, which Yasuo had held up to block the bear's attack. The bear's slash was extremely powerful. Even though Yasuo had managed block the slash, the immense power and strength behind the attack completely destroyed Yasuo's defense, ripped the sword out of his grasp, and knocked him back. The attack sent Kuroi Kiba onto the ground and knocked Yasuo backwards, causing him to fall onto his back.

_What the hell kind of strength is that?! _Yasuo thought, looking up at the bear. The bear was already on the move and quickly moved to Yasuo's side, grasping the hilt of the sword with both hands and aiming the blade down at Yasuo's chest. Yasuo knew what the bear was going to do and rolled out of the was just in time to avoid the blade as the bear plunged it into the ground where Yasuo lay a mere moment prior.

Yasuo got to his feet quickly and looked at the bear warrior standing across from him with an exasperated look. This bear was ridiculously powerful. Trying to fight it with any form of Taijutsu would be stupid.

Kurizu's Bariagan disappeared from his eyes after having watched the bear's display of its strength. He was almost positive that even with the Bariagan, he couldn't defend himself against an attack of that magnitude. A strike from the bear's sword would likely force its way through the Bariagan and allow the bear to still cut through Kurizu.

"I understand how you fight..." Yasuo said after only having observed a single attack from the bear. It was a very simple deduction, but it was enough to define the bear's style of fighting. "You try to overpower your opponent solely with strength. You have a ridiculous amount of strength, so why not put it to use? Am I right? I could try to overpower you, but I don't think I'd be able to even if I trained for a year. There's only one way for someone like me to beat something like you..."

Yasuo looked away from the bear for a moment and at Kurizu. He gave Kurizu a small nod in Keiji's direction and looked back at the bear.

Kurizu understood what Yasuo meant. The only way for Yasuo to be able to defeat this bear is if he worked with his team. If Keiji remained in the state he was in, this fight would likely be a lost cause for Yasuo and Kurizu. Kurizu had to check on Keiji and, if possible, wake him up. In order for that to be done, Yasuo would need to distract the bear. Judging by the bear's reaction to Yasuo's words, Kurizu could tell that Yasuo was already in the process of distracting it.

"Some**thing** like me? You humans consider me to be a **thing**, now?" the bear said, holding the blade at its side with one paw. Its grip tightened around the hilt of the sword. Anger seemed to resonate off of its body.

"Of course. You're a walking, talking bear who acts as nothing more than a tool for another man. Considering that your master sent you up against the three of us, you might even be an expendable tool." Yasuo spat, looking over to his right at where Kuroi Kiba landed. It was too far for him to reach, so he would need to somehow get closer to it. "If anything, you're an abomination."

"Don't get **cocky!**" the bear roared, having had enough of Yasuo's insults. The bear grabbed the sword with both hands and lunged at Yasuo, slashing at a downward angle.

Yasuo smirked and stepped to his right, avoiding the powerful slash. The bear's sword swung down through the air and crashed into the ground, causing the hill itself to shake slightly. The bear brought the sword up and moved towards Yasuo again, slashing at his chest horizontally. Yasuo stepped back and avoided the slash, moving closer to Kuroi Kiba. The bear followed up by slashing diagonally at Yasuo, only for the slash to be avoided with another step back.

By now, Yasuo was close enough to get Kuroi Kiba. The hilt of the blade was directly behind his right heel. Yasuo brought his foot back so his toes were touching the hilt. In one quick movement, Yasuo kicked the blade up into the air. When it made its descent, Yasuo caught it by the hilt.

During all of this, Kurizu was invisible to the bear. When he knew that the bear was no longer paying attention to him, Kurizu hastily ran over to Keiji. Kurizu got Keiji onto his back and saw that he was unconscious. Kurizu started his examination of Keiji by looking at his fingers. Keiji had grabbed the stem of the flower with his fingers, so if he had somehow gotten poisoned, there would be some kind marking. When Kurizu looked at Keiji's fingers, there were no markings. Apparently, the flower hadn't pricked him and it hadn't injected some kind of poison into his body.

Before Kurizu could make a more thorough examination, he noticed the dark chakra of the Juubi begin to leak out of Keiji's body in the form of an aura. Kurizu immediately got up and backed away from Keiji.

"It's that chakra again..." Kurizu said under his breath, watching as the chakra leaked out of Keiji's body. While he watched, Kurizu was able to notice Keiji's eyes twitching and his hands moving. "Is the chakra waking him up?"

In a moment, Keiji's eyes opened. He looked at his own body, feeling relief sweep over him when he realized that he was no longer bound by the very flower he had tried to pick. Keiji rose to his feet and looked at the situation that had emerged while he was under the influence of the Genjutsu. He looked at the bear, more amazed than confused by it. He saw Yasuo standing before this bear warrior with Kuroi Kiba drawn. This suggested that they were fighting. He saw Kurizu standing off to the side closer to Keiji.

"You guys need my help?" Keiji asked, cracking his knuckles as he spoke. Yasuo looked over to Keiji after hearing his speak and sighed in relief.

"What do you think, Keiji?" Yasuo asked, keeping an eye on the bear while speaking to Keiji. Keiji nodded as he unwrapped the chain of the kusarigama from around his chest. He held the handle to the sickle in his right hand and the chain in his left hand.

"I got sucked into your little game..." the bear growled, clearly infuriated by the fact that it had been manipulated by a kid. "I'll kill all of you!"

The bear started to swing the sword down at Yasuo. Keiji, under the influence of the Juubi's chakra, reacted quickly and threw the sickle in the direction of the bear. As it was now, the bear was in the space between Yasuo and Keiji. The kusarigama flew through the air and went over the bear's shoulder. Keiji used the chain to guide the sickle and he made it wrap around the bear's weapon before it could get swung down. Keiji pulled back on the chain that he held onto, forcing the bear's sword to get pulled back over its shoulder. The bear held onto the sword, though, and tried to pull the sword back. Under the influence of the Juubi's chakra, however, Keiji had strength that surpassed the bear's.

Yasuo started to make several quick hand seals, preparing to use this opening that Keiji had given him to land a fatal attack. When Yasuo had finished casting the hand seals for the technique, he held his right wrist with his left hand. His right hand became engulfed in electricity.

"Here goes..." Yasuo said, releasing his own wrist. He hit the unsuspecting bear with the palm of his electricity engulfed hand. "_Raiton: Kaminari Ryoku."_

At first, the attack seemed to do nothing. The bear didn't understand what the boy was even attempting to do. After about three seconds, however, the attack let off an instantaneous blast. The blast both electrocuted the bear and launched the bear back, sending him flying into the tree. After hitting the tree, the bear burst into smoke, returning to wherever it had been summoned from. When the bear had gotten launched, it had let go of its weapon, so Keiji didn't get pulled with it.

After the bear disappeared, Keiji coiled his kusarigama back up around his chest and walked back over to Yasuo.

"I still can't get over how awesome that technique is." Keiji said with a laugh, holding his fist out in front of him after he stopped in front of Yasuo.

"Our teamwork is just getting better and better, too." Yasuo replied, bumping fists with Keiji. "Anyway... What exactly happened to you back there?"

"With the flower? Oh... The flower was rigged with a chakra trap. When I touched it, the chakra went inside of me through my pores and initiated a Genjutsu... or something like that. I don't really get it, myself." Keiji explained with a nervous laugh. Everything that he said was simply what he had heard the Juubi say while he was under the Genjutsu. "The Juubi helped me out of the Genjutsu by using its chakra to do... something."

Both Yasuo and Kurizu were pretty decent in the field of Genjutsu. Neither of them were able to cast any Genjutsu, but they knew the basics of how a Genjutsu works as well as how to dispel one. The Juubi's chakra would have disturbed the Genjutsu, causing it to dissipate.

"Anyway... Let's get the rest of the flowers and return to Takeshi-sensei." Kurizu said, not really wanting to be there any longer than they needed to. The others nodded as Kurizu walked over to the flowers himself. He reached into his beige pouch and pulled out a cloth and a small container. He used the cloth to pick all of the flowers at the base of the tree, putting them inside of the container after he picked them. He put a lid on the container and returned both the cloth and the container to the beige pouch. The trio then started to make their way back to the Hidden Leaf Village.

4

Takeshi was waiting for Kurizu, Keiji, and Yasuo by the village gates when they arrived. Takeshi never had any intentions of actually observing his students on their mission. He only said that he would so they would be expecting an ambush of some kind. Takeshi did, however, have a set of eyes at Mitoshi Gake. He had summoned the bear who had attacked his students. The bear went by the name Kouza. After it had been defeated by Keiji and Yasuo's teamwork, it had returned to Takeshi to give a report.

_"They aren't bad, for a bunch of kids. The boy wearing the bandana and the one with the white hair... they're both powerful. The one with the green eyes must have dispelled the Genjutsu on the white haired one. They worked together well to defeat me."_

_ "Perfect, Kouza. That's all that I needed to know. Thank you for your assistance." _

After obtaining the report from Kouza, Takeshi had waited by the village gates for them to return. When they did, he told his students that they had exceeded his expectations and that their teamwork was where it should be. Takeshi had then told his students that he would submit their applications for the Chuunin Exams. He explained that the exams would take place in the Hidden Cloud Village, so they would be departing from the village in about a week since it would take a decent length of time to get there.

Keiji, Yasuo, and Kurizu were excited by the news that they would be participating in the Chuunin Exams. They decided that they would use the next week to train before departing.


	11. Chapter Eleven

[Hey, everyone. Sorry about not posting as often as I used to anymore. This chapter was difficult for me to write, for some reason. The story is almost over and these next few chapters are going to be action packed. I'm gonna try to pump out the next chapter as quickly as I can.]

Chapter Eleven

1

A warm, slightly salty breeze blew throughout the massive island of Rakurai. The sun was blazing down on the island intensely, but even that wasn't enough to kill the relaxing feeling one got simply by being on the island. The island was split into quarters.

The northeastern quarter of the island consisted of the charred remains of an electricity based fire. There used to be a village in the northeastern quarter of the island, but experimentation with the properties of lightning got the better of the village and started a large fire. The fire spread throughout the village quickly and burned it to the ground before help from the neighboring village could arrive.

The neighboring village existed in the northwestern quarter of the island. Only having a population of about two hundred people, the village was rather small. This village was where most of the Chuunin Exams would take place. There was a building in the village which was where the first exam was to take place. Right off of the northwestern shore of the island was a floating arena, the arena floating in the water itself. This was where the third exam was to take place.

The second exam was going to take place in the dense forest which made up the the southwestern section of the island. This forest was comparable, in size, to the Forest of Death back in the Hidden Leaf Village. In terms of lethality, the Forest of Death definitely came out on top. There were numerous kinds of animals within the forests of Rakurai, but none of them would pose too great of a threat to Genin.

The southeastern quarter of the island consisted of a beach. Sand made up the shore for a few miles in either direction. On a sunny day, the sand became too hot to stand on for too long. Regardless of that, however, it was an area where most of the villagers on Rakurai came to relax and enjoy their day. In order to reach this island from the Hidden Cloud Village, one would need to take a small boat and dock at the southeastern part of the island. The island was too far away to try and swim out to, so the boat was necessary.

The Hidden Leaf had departed from their village about a week ago and headed directly for the Hidden Cloud Village. They had arrived, according to schedule, and met up with the Raikage outside of the village. The Raikage, and several others, explained to the Hidden Leaf that they would be heading to the island of Rakurai once all of the other villages' participants in the Chuunin Exams were ready. There were about forty-two participants in the exams themselves, but there would be almost eighty people altogether traveling from the Hidden Cloud Village over to the island of Rakurai, including all five Kage.

The large group of shinobi all departed from the Hidden Cloud Village on a large boat, arriving at the island of Rakurai within thirty minutes. The boat docked at the beach section of the island. Once the group got off of the boat, they left for the only remaining village on the island. Most of the Genin were ridden with awe and disappointment, the awe being from the beautiful scenery of the beach at which they had docked and the disappointment being from the fact that they had to leave so soon after stepping onto the sand. In order to get to the village, the group would need to travel through the forest.

As the group walked through the dense and warm forest, the Raikage began to explain what was going to occur once they reached the village.

"When we reach the village, there is going to be a recognition festival in honor of Naruto Uzumaki and all that he did to better the lives of the Jinchuuriki of our time." Koga, the Raikage, explained as he walked. His brother walked on Koga's right side and his wife walked on Koga's left side.

Keiji looked at the Raikage and his brother with a bit of interest. Supposedly, they were both Jinchuuriki. One had the Yonbi and the other had the Gobi. Considering how the Raikage was a Jinchuuriki and the most powerful shinobi in his entire village, it would not be wise to cross him or to step on his toes at all. The Raikage's brother was no pushover, either. Even though he may not look it, he was apparently almost as powerful as the Raikage, himself. Even though he didn't know much about the two of them, Keiji still respected both of them.

"We're going to be showing our respects to the Jinchuuriki of our time towards the start of the festival, which is why we personally invited all of the nine Jinchuuriki to these Chuunin Exams." Rita, the Raikage's wife, explained.

According to the woman who had just spoken, all of the Jinchuuriki were present in this crowd. Keiji only knew of a few, those being the Raikage, the Raikage's brother, Midori, and a man named Hayato. Hayato was a Jinchuuriki swordsman from the Hidden Mist Village. He had apparently saved his village from a massive, unprecedented tsunami several years back by using his Jinchuuriki power abilities. Hayato had stopped by the Hidden Leaf Village about a year and a half ago after a mission. Keiji saw Hayato, thought he looked cool and heard about what he did, and looked up to him since then.

"There's going to be a stage at the center of the village. We'll all gather there first. All nine Jinchuuriki are to line up across the stage in numerical order, based on the number of tails your respective Bijuu has. We'll have one of our top shinobi, Tai, go down the line and shake each of your hands after the Hokage gives his speech, and that will be it." Rita explained. Most of the Genin were pretty excited to see who the other Jinchuuriki were. They were also excited to be able to enjoy this event before the Chuunin Exams, where they would be pitted against one another in an attempt to become a Chuunin. Rita looked back at a man who was walking behind her group. "Understand your role, Tai?"

The man who Rita referred to as Tai nodded. He was wearing a dark cloak with no shirt on underneath and a pair of dark blue pants. He had light orange hair left in a messy fashion.

Yasuo looked over to Keiji as they walked with the rest of the crowd towards the village. "It's too bad that they don't know about you. You'd be able to get up on that stage with Midori and the rest of them." Yasuo said in a hushed tone.

"It'd also center this entire event thing on me, and that'd be pretty lame." Keiji responded with a laugh. "Are we getting close to the village?" Yasuo shrugged his shoulders, but a man walking next to Yasuo overheard the question and nodded.

2

The crowd of shinobi all gathered in front of the stage shortly after they arrived in the village. There was already a crowd of civilians in front of the stage, so all of the shinobi except for the nine main Jinchuuriki merged with the preexisting crowd. The nine Jinchuuriki all got up on the stage and stood side-by-side in numerical order, based on the number of tails their Bijuu had. Midori stood on the far right. Koga and Gin both stood next to one another at the center of the line.

While the Jinchuuriki were lining up on the stage, everyone else got comfortable in the crowd. Keiji, Yasuo, and Kurizu all stood to the far right of the crowd. They were standing near a walkway that led up to a staircase which one would take when trying to get down from the stage. After the line of the Jinchuuriki was formed on the stage, Rita and Tai both got on the stage themselves, the Hokage making his way up and onto the stage himself soon after.

When the crowd started to settle down a bit, the Hokage started to clear his throat in preparation for the speech. The Hokage was a thirty-five year old man with dark-blue hair. He had pale lavender eyes which appeared to have no pupils. His name was Kano Hyuuga. Kano was a descendent of Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyuuga. He had the eyes and a fighting style passed down from Hinata and a powerful technique passed down from Naruto.

"Many years ago, there was a time when the Five Great Nations were not united. There was a struggle for power and the nine Bijuu were a great influence in this struggle. The five nations would try to capture the Bijuu and would seal them inside of a shinobi in order to grant said shinobi exceptional power. These shinobi were known as Jinchuuriki. In the attempt to capture the Bijuu, many lives were lost and inevitable destruction occurred." Kano spoke to the crowd standing before the stage. Keiji was impressed by how calm and stern the Hokage was, but it was to be expected when you were raised as a Hyuuga. "Villagers would misplace their hatred of the Bijuu who took the lives of their loved ones and would relocate their hatred onto the Jinchuuriki themselves. One of my predecessors, Naruto Uzumaki, was a Jinchuuriki of Kurama, the Kyuubi. He ignored the hatred of his own villagers and strove to be acknowledged as the Hokage. On the path towards his goal, Naruto Uzumaki managed to unite all five nations and helped understanding to breed between the Bijuu and people. We not only mistreated the Jinchuuriki in the past, but we also mistreated the Bijuu. We looked at them only as sources of power and not as conscious beings. This festival is being held in honor of the Bijuu and in respect for their Jinchuuriki hosts."

Kano turned and looked at Tai and Rita, nodding once to silently tell them to start with the next phase. Rita nodded in response and Tai walked in front of the leftmost Jinchuuriki. This Jinchuuriki was a nineteen year old boy with shoulder-length black hair and dark blue eyes. He had pale skin and a bored look on his face. He had a blue earring on each earlobe.

"Sora Tanaka, Jinchuuriki host of Shukaku, the Ichibi." Kano announced. As he said the boy's name, Tai grabbed Sora's hand and held it up in the air as the crowd applauded the Jinchuuriki.

Tai moved towards the next Jinchuuriki. This Jinchuuriki was a girl who could have been the same age as Midori. She had short blond hair and wore her hair in spiky pigtails. Her eyes were a light brown. The girl looked nervous, which was acceptable considering how she was standing on a stage in front of a lot of people.

"Fuyu Kato, Jinchuuriki host of Matatabi, the Nibi." Kano announced. Just as it had been done with Sora, Tai grabbed one of Fuyu's hands and raised it into the air. The crowd applauded in a timely manner.

Tai moved over to the next Jinchuuriki. The third Jinchuuriki was a large, dark skinned man who was probably in his late twenties. He had very short dark hair and a beard growing in. He had dark brown eyes to match his hair. He was tapping his right foot on the floor in an odd rhythm. This Jinchuuriki had problems with keeping still. He was overly jocular and immature for a man of his age.

"Gorou Yamamoto, Jinchuuriki host of Isobuu, the Sanbi." Kano announced. Tai grabbed Gorou's hand and held it in the air. Gorou was taller than Tai, so his hand didn't even go up over his head when it was raised. The crowd cheered and Tai moved to the next Jinchuuriki.

The next Jinchuuriki was Gin. He was standing in a very calm and a very peaceful manner. He had his staff in his right hand with the base resting on the stage.

"Gin Kimura, Jinchuuriki host of Son Goku, the Yonbi." Kano announced. Tai grabbed Gin's hand and raised it into the air. The crowd cheered particularly loudly this time. This wasn't a surprise, since this was near Gin's village. He was a well known symbol of peace, even in this village.

Tai moved onto the next Jinchuuriki, which was Gin's brother Koga, the current Raikage. Koga had lived most of his life with a scarred face, so he felt absolutely no embarrassment or nervousness while standing on this stage. He seemed to resonate with strength, even during a peaceful time like this.

"Koga Kimura, Jinchuuriki host of Kokuou, the Gobi." Kano announced. Tai raised Koga's hand up into the air and the crowd cheered even more loudly than it had for Gin. He was the Raikage, so it was to be expected.

The next Jinchuuriki was a thirty-two year old woman who had long dark brown hair. This woman was very dressed up for this occasion.

"Mika Inoue, Jinchuuriki host of Saiken, the Rokubi." Kano announced as Tai raised Mika's hand into the air. The crowd, mostly guys, cheered very loudly. Mika simply looked away from the crowd, knowing that the men who were cheering in the crowd were probably only concerned about her body.

Tai moved over to the next Jinchuuriki. This Jinchuuriki was a sixteen year old boy that had somewhat long, black hair. His hair was long enough to almost cover his colorless eyes. This boy had his hands stuffed into his pockets and seemed to be somewhat of a loner.

"Yuuta Sasaki, Jinchuuriki host of Choumei, the Shichibi." Kano announced. Tai went to go and grab Yuuta's hand, but the boy pulled his arm away before Tai could get close.

"Do I have to?" Yuuta asked, looking Tai in the eyes. Tai didn't respond and pulled Yuuta's hand out of his pocket, systematically raising it into the air. The crowd cheered, but Yuuta paid them no mind. Instead, he pulled his hand back and rubbed his palm on his shirt. "Sweat. That's why I didn't want to touch your hand."

Tai ignored Yuuta again and moved onto the next Jinchuuriki. This next Jinchuuriki was Hayato. He had short, spiked white hair and blue eyes. He was either in his late twenties or early thirties. There was a large sword in a sheath on his back and he had a few small scars on his face. This Jinchuuriki bore a slight resemblance to Keiji, and that was part of the reason as to why Keiji looked up to Hayato.

"Hayato Mori, Jinchuuriki host of Gyuuki, the Hachibi." Kano announced as Tai raised the man's hand into the air. The crowd cheered Hayato on and Tai moved onto the final Jinchuuriki.

The final Jinchuuriki was Midori. She looked very nervous and did not like the fact that she had to go last. This was basically one drawn out suspenseful moment for Midori as she waited for her turn to get cheered on by a bunch of people she didn't know.

"Midori Sarutobi, Jinchuuriki host of Kurama, the Kyuubi." Kano announced, Tai raising Midori's hand into the air. The crowd cheered Midori on. When Tai released Midori's hand, she pulled it back quickly and rubbed her palms onto her clothes. She had overheard Yuuta complaining about Tai having sweaty hands and it appeared that it was actually true. She was slightly disgusted by this, but got over it soon enough.

Kano Hyuuga gave his closing speech as Rita and Tai both walked off of the stage. The two of them walked down the walkway together, passing by Keiji, Kurizu, and Yasuo. As they walked past the trio, Tai's hand brushed against Keiji's hand. Keiji didn't even notice as this happened. He was too into the Hokage's speech to notice anything else. After Kano's speech ended, everyone was allowed to go and enjoy the festival in whichever way they saw fit.

The Jinchuuriki walked off of the stage and went their own separate ways. Keiji noticed a few of the Jinchuuriki head into the forest and figured that they would be heading towards the beach. One of the Jinchuuriki heading towards the beach was Hayato.

"Hey, guys." Keiji said to Kurizu and Yasuo. "I'm gonna head to the beach." He said this almost absentmindedly as he started to head in the direction that Hayato had gone.

Both Kurizu and Yasuo found Keiji's behavior to be odd, but they both knew that Keiji looked up to Hayato. They figured that he was just focused on being able to talk with Hayato for the first time.

3

Keiji followed Hayato and the others all the way to the beach. The other Jinchuuriki who had gone to the beach were Gorou and Gin. When they arrived at the beach in the few minutes that it took to walk there from the village, Gin walked out onto the ocean and produced a lava island to sit on. Gorou removed most of his clothes and dove into the ocean. Hayato removed the large sword from the sheath on his back and lay on the sand with his hands behind his head.

Keiji moved towards Hayato and sat down onto the sand next to him. Hayato seemed to notice as Keiji sat down next to him, but didn't show any signs of caring or being bothered by it.

"Hayato... I wanted to ask you a question." Keiji began. He started to grab the sand next to him with his left hand. He would clench his hand into a fist to grab the sand, simultaneously letting the sand slip through the spaces between his fingers, and repeating the process. "What's it like being a Jinchuuriki hero?"

Hayato sat up without looking over to Keiji. For a second, Keiji wasn't sure if Hayato intended to answer the question or if he was just going to sit there in that position forever.

"Make no mistake... me being a Jinchuuriki and a hero are not connected. I'm sure you know that I saved the Hidden Mist Village from a tsunami several years ago. Most people assume that I used my Jinchuuriki abilities to stop the tsunami. I used my own strength to slice the wave in half, combining my jutsu with my swordsmanship to do it." Hayato explained, sounding as though this was the hundredth time he was explaining it.

"_What? _You cut the wave by yourself?" Keiji asked, astounded by the fact that a person could even be powerful enough to divert a tsunami on their own. "Why? Wouldn't it have been easier to use your Jinchuuriki abilities?"

"It would have been easier, but if I had used my Jinchuuriki abilities, I wouldn't be worthy of being called a hero. I would have had to rely on another person's abilities to save everyone. People would still call me a hero, but it wouldn't be justified. The actual hero would have been Gyuuki, but none of the villagers would have been able to tell the difference."

"What do you mean..?"

"The villagers haven't changed much from what they apparently were like during Naruto Uzumaki's time. During that time, they saw the Bijuu do negative things and then hated the Jinchuuriki for the actions of the Bijuu. During this time, people will see me using Gyuuki's power and would praise me for what I accomplish with it, completely disregarding the source of the power, itself. That's why I try to avoid using Gyuuki's power as much as possible."

Keiji understood what Hayato was telling him. Hayato was pretty much saying that if he was going to end up being the only one who gets praised for doing good things, he would rather accomplish things by his own power and actually deserve the praise than use the Hachibi's power and get praise that shouldn't only be his.

"Why don't you just tell everyone to praise Gyuuki, too?"

"I'd rather they figured it out on their own. It's better that a person figures out, on their own, that what they're doing is wrong. It'll mean that I can have some hope for all of them."

Keiji looked down after receiving an answer from Hayato. _Yeah, but sometimes people need a hand with making progress... _Keiji thought, staring into the sand. He looked up, prepared to voice his thought to Hayato when he noticed something odd.

Gin had been on an island made out of solidified lava on the ocean and Gorou had gone out for a swim in the ocean. When Keiji looked up, he could see Gin laying on his back on the small, black island convulsing. Gorou was laying on his back in the ocean, as well, his body shaking profusely.

"Shit!" Keiji exclaimed as he stood up. Hayato stood up with him. Both of them started towards the two incapacitated Jinchuuriki in the ocean. Within seconds, however, both Keiji and Hayato dropped onto their knees clutching their heads.

_What the... _Keiji thought as massive waves of pain pounded through his head. His head... No. His entire body felt as though it was going to explode and release every ounce of pain at once.

Through the pain, Keiji looked over to Gin and Gorou. Both of them had chakra leaking out of their bodies. The chakra started out as an aura around both of them, but quickly progressed to a more solid, goo-like state.

_**Kid! **_The Juubi called out to Keiji. Keiji was in too much pain to respond. _**There are traces of that drug inside of your body!**_

At first, Keiji had no idea what the Juubi was talking about. Then he had a flashback to his first days as a Genin. He remembered the dogs going berserk and killing one of their own. He remembered Zagi. He remembered himself and Midori having a drug pumped into them by Zagi. He remembered that the drug had made them lose control over their bodies and brought them under the influence their Bijuu's chakra.

"How... is this even possible?" Keiji groaned as he leaned forward enough to the point where his hair was touching the sand. Keiji glanced over at Hayato. Chakra had already begun to leak out of his body. By the time it had gone into the goo-like state, or the chakra cloak state, dark chakra had already begun to leak out of Keiji's body.

_**I think I know how. It's the only thing that makes sense.**_

The Juubi explained what it believed had caused the drug to enter Keiji, Gorou, Gin, and Hayato. It was completely lost on Keiji, however, because he had lost his sanity before the Juubi could finish his explanation.

Back at the village, the same thing had happened to the other Jinchuuriki. Sora and Fuyu had dropped to the ground in pain, at first. Chakra had leaked out of Sora's body first and then from Fuyu's body. By the time they had undergone their chakra cloak transformations, the same thing started to happen to Koga, Mika, and Yuuta. Midori was the last one in the village to go through the painful transformation.

All of the Jinchuuriki had gone on an unwilling rampage. Using their ridiculous strength and abilities, they attacked the villagers and destroyed structures with ease. The shinobi who were present in the village knew that fighting against most of the Jinchuuriki at the same time would just waste lives, so the shinobi from the five nations who were present in the village focused their efforts on trying to evacuate the villagers.

Takeshi had found Yasuo and Kurizu in the chaos and gave them a very specific order.

"I want you two to go to the beach and find Keiji. We need to get everyone out of here, Keiji included." Takeshi said. Yasuo and Kurizu both nodded in acceptance of their order. The two boys immediately started running to the entrance to the forest in order to head towards the beach.

As Yasuo and Kurizu left, the Hokage and two other shinobi had approached Takeshi.

"Three figures approached us as this catastrophe started..." the Hokage started to explain. "They say that they can personally take down all of the Jinchuuriki for us."

"Take down? As in kill? Are you insane? They going to-?" Takeshi started to say.

"It's either our lives or theirs. Besides... it seems as though the power of a Bijuu is too much for even these Jinchuuriki to handle. These two figures convinced me that it'd be best if they were eliminated..."

Takeshi was angry that it would even have to come to this, but he understood that the Hokage was probably right.

"They're going to check the beach after they handle everything in the village. Several Jinchuuriki were apparently spotted heading in that direction."

"Shit... I just sent Yasuo and Kurizu to the beach to check up on Keiji..."

"They assured us that they'll be able to handle this situation quickly, so don't worry about your students."

4

Yasuo and Kurizu both reached the beach within a few minutes and they were both nearly horrified by what they saw. There were four other Jinchuuriki at the beach who had also undergone a transformation similar to the Jinchuuriki back at the village. One of the transformed Jinchuuriki at the beach was Keiji.

The four Jinchuuriki were attacking one another. It was predictable, seeing as the only other thing that could be demolished here was the boat that everyone traveled on. Fortunately, they did not destroy it yet. They were too busy fighting each other.

"What the fuck is going on?" Yasuo asked under his breath, watching Gorou slam his chakra coated fist into the side of Hayato's head. Hayato got sent flying into the ocean by Gorou's punch, but Hayato just got right back up and rejoined the fray. "This is just like that other time with Keiji... But all ten of them?"

"At the same time, too... It's really strange." Kurizu murmured. "What do we do?"

"We can't do anything. If we try to intervene or if we even make our presence known to them, they'll rip both of us apart. If it was just one of them, we might stand a chance... but not up against four." Yasuo replied, wiping nervous sweat off of his forehead. "If I remember right, when this happened to Keiji before, the transformation went away on its own. We could try to wait it out..."

"...and what if one of them kills the other?" Kurizu asked. Yasuo didn't provide an answer to this.

Keiji's body may have lost his rationality and control over his body, but that did not mean that he had been under the drug's direct influence. Over the past few months, the Juubi had grown stronger. It had been able to produce more than enough chakra to override the drug's influence on Keiji. The chakra may have leaked out of Keiji's body on its own, but the Juubi could still use the chakra to directly control Keiji and prevent him from destroying anything or killing anyone. The other nine Bijuu probably had no idea what was going on. For all they knew, their Jinchuuriki host was just going on a rampage. The Juubi knew better, though, because it had personally witnessed this before.

The Juubi was more powerful than any of the other Bijuu, but its host was physically weaker than seven of the nine other Jinchuuriki. The Juubi needed to silence all of the other Jinchuuriki, but it would be difficult while it was stuck in this body.

Keiji's body was standing in an awkward stance with both of its arms hanging down in front of him. The Juubi, controlling Keiji's body, was waiting for an opportunity. Gorou, Hayato, and Gin were all fighting it out. Charging in recklessly would be dangerous. Waiting around forever, however, would be just as dangerous. Before the Juubi could launch its attack on the other three Jinchuuriki, a hooded figure appeared in the space between Gorou, Hayato, and Gin. They were surrounding the figure in a triangular formation.

_**Who is that..? **_the Juubi thought, wondering what was going to happen next. The figure was wearing a white cloak and a strange mask. The figure made a few quick hand seals and moved quickly, placing his palm on Gorou's chest. A strange purple light flashed from the figure's hand and, in an instant, the chakra of the Sanbi disappeared. Gorou's body fell onto the sand shortly after. One by one, the figure did the same thing with Hayato and Gin, the strange purple flash of light radiating from his hand and causing their Bijuu's chakra to disappear. After Gorou, Hayato, and Gin were all taken care of, the figure turned to Keiji.

The Juubi had no idea what this guy was doing. He could sense the chakra of the Sanbi, the Yonbi, and the Hachibi. It had not receded back into their bodies. The chakra had gone somewhere untraceable. The Juubi did not want to lose its chakra to this guy.

Before it knew it, however, the figure had approached Keiji's body and cast the necessary hand seals for this strange technique. The figure had placed its palm on Keiji's chest and the purple flash had occurred. In that instant, the Juubi's chakra had disappeared and the Juubi, itself, had fallen into a state resembling unconsciousness.

The figure cracked its knuckles after knocking out the last of the Jinchuuriki. At this moment, another hooded and masked figure stepped out of the forest and walked up to the first one. This second figure was taller than the first.

"Good work, Zero. Wrath is currently explaining to the other four Kages about how killing them turned out to not be necessary. He's going to be offering up our services in purifying the Jinchuuriki and all of that bullshit." the second figure said. "He's also going to ask for another hand from the Hidden Cloud Village. He's naturally going to choose Rage, or Tai, to come along with us."

"Alright. That means I'm almost done, right, Cobra?" Zero asked.

"Yup. You'll just need to use your ability a few more times to capture these four Jinchuuriki."

Zero nodded and made several hand seals. He touched Gorou's body, causing it to completely vanish. Zero did the same with the other three bodies, causing all of them to vanish.

The two hooded figures nodded and disappeared. Yasuo and Kurizu had watched this entire exchange from within the forest, themselves.

"I get it, now... I understand what's happening, now..." Yasuo muttered angrily. "They set this entire thing up just so they could capture the Jinchuuriki. They didn't want to be notorious criminals, so they probably somehow used that drug from last time, connecting them to that Zagi guy, to make the Jinchuuriki go berserk... Fortunately for everyone, they were here and able to stop the Jinchuuriki. We need to go tell everyone, Kurizu."

Kurizu agreed with Yasuo and the two of them started to head back to the partially destroyed village.


	12. Chapter Twelve

[Here's Chapter Twelve, guys~ Read it and leave reviews~]

Chapter Twelve

1

When Keiji woke up, everything was dark. He couldn't tell if he had woken up inside of a room or inside of a monsters stomach. Everything was dark and the only sounds in the room was the groaning of another person. The only noticeable smell in the air was that of the ocean. Keiji remembered being at the beach with Hayato and two other Jinchuuriki... but the setting was all wrong. The ground beneath Keiji was not sandy and the place was far too dark to exist outside, even at night.

Keiji sat up, his hand immediately moving to his head as a wave of pain washed over him. He had never gotten drunk before but he assumed that this was what a hangover felt like. The first thing that Keiji decided to do, after the pain subsided, was to try to contact the Juubi. The Juubi had been able to see clearly in the dark during his fight against Yasuo's dad when it located a door hidden in the shadows. Maybe it could tell him where he was.

_Juubi... _Keiji thought, even his thoughts sounding extremely weary. There was no response when he mentally called out to the Juubi. _Damn... Something's wrong with the Juubi, too... _

Letting out a heavy sigh, Keiji slowly stood up. Standing up too quickly might bring the pain back, and that was something that Keiji wanted to avoid at all costs. Being lost, in the dark, and confused was enough to stress Keiji out. He didn't need to be in pain, on top of everything else. For some reason, as Keiji was standing up, he was expecting to hit his head on an extremely low ceiling. Considering the situation, something like that happening would be fitting. He did not hit his head on a ceiling when he stood up, though.

Keiji could not see anything around him. Somebody could have removed his eyes, for all Keiji knew. The surrounding darkness made it impossible for Keiji to discern anything about his location. He couldn't see anything, but he remembered the groaning sound he had heard moments ago and could still hear.

"Hey!" Keiji yelled. "Is there anyone else here?" At the sound, and resounding, of Keiji's voice, the groan became momentarily louder before stopping completely, a yawn following the groan.

"Eh... You're so loud..." a man said, yawning again. "Isobuu... Where are we? Isobuu..?"

_This must be Gorou... and that's probably why I smell the ocean. I remember... he went for a swim... _Keiji thought, sighing as he heard Gorou call out for Isobuu a few more times before realizing that the Sanbi wouldn't answer.

Keiji could hear Gorou shuffling around, probably trying to feel around for his clothes. When he was unable to find them, he stood up. The air was completely neutral, so he felt neither cold nor warm.

"Where are we...?" Gorou asked the voice that had woken him up.

"I dunno. I just woke up here a few minutes ago... I don't remember anything except that you, me, and two others were at a beach..." Keiji said, feeling a bit more down after voicing the current situation. "I don't know what we can do..."

Gorou was about to respond to Keiji when the two of them felt the entire room begin to shake. The two of them got a bit closer to the ground and waited for the shaking to stop. Before the shaking stopped, it seemed as though the dark room that they were both in suddenly and instantaneously disappeared. Their dark surroundings just completely disappeared and seemed to drop them into a different room. It wasn't much of a room, though. It was more of...

"...a cell?" Keiji asked after standing up again. He and Gorou had both been dropped into a cell when the previous darkened room disappeared. The room _did _disappear, too. The air had felt completely neutral, temperature-wise, before, and now there was somewhat of a chill in the air. The room had no smell other than the ocean before, and now the room smelled of mildew. The floor even felt smooth before. Now it was more stoney and rough.

Keiji looked over at Gorou, almost feeling bad for the borderline naked man. All he had on was a pair of shorts, so the chill in the air would probably affect him the most. Apparently, he's from the Hidden Sand Village, too. That would probably make things worse for him.

As Keiji looked over to Gorou, he noticed several more bodies laying unconscious on the ground. There were eight other bodies on the ground. Keiji was able to pick out Midori and Hayato from among the bodies.

_Wait... They're all Jinchuuriki. Gorou, Midori, Hayato... there's the Raikage and his brother here, too... _Keiji thought. He connected this with the fact that both the Juubi and the Sanbi would respond to their hosts before, finding this entire situation to be even more strange. _Did someone kidnap all of us? How could they have kidnapped ten Jinchuuriki..?_

Keiji turned away from Gorou and the other Jinchuuriki, looking at the bars of the cell. The bars were made of a sturdy looking metal. The room outside of the cell was dark and looked as though it could have been a basement. There was a staircase directly across the room from the cell. There was a blond haired figure walking up the steps.

"Are you the one who kidnapped us?!" Keiji exclaimed, drawing Gorou's attention to the blond figure. A few of the unconscious Jinchuuriki stirred in their sleep at the sound of Keiji's voice.

The blond figure stopped walking up the staircase and let out a sigh.

"Fair warning... I wouldn't touch the bars to your cell if I were you." the figure said, intentionally ignoring Keiji's question. The figure started walking back up the staircase, ignoring the exclamations that followed his suggestion.

"Answer me, dammit!" Keiji shouted as he slammed his fist onto one of the bars to the cell. As soon as Keiji's fist made contact with the bar, the air seemed to become tense around his fist. Out of nowhere, Keiji was launched back and sent crashing into the wall at the back of the cell. Keiji let out a pained cry as he made contact with the wall. Pieces of the wall chipped off from the impact. Keiji's body slowly slid down the wall, leaving a small trail of blood from a fresh wound on his back. Keiji got on his knees when he neared the base of the wall, leaning forward and hugging his chest to try and dull the pain.

"What the..." Keiji began, coughing up blood as he started to talk. "What the hell..."

Gorou rushed over to Keiji and helped him lay face-down. A few of the other Jinchuuriki were starting to wake up from the crashing sound of Keiji hitting the wall. One of the first Jinchuuriki to wake up was Midori. She, like Keiji and Gorou, had been confused by where she had woken up. When she noticed Keiji bleeding on the floor, she immediately rushed over to him.

"Kurama!" Midori called out to the Kyuubi sealed inside of her. She, also like Keiji and Gorou, didn't get an answer from the Bijuu. She called out to Kurama two more times before giving up on hoping for an answer

"Kurama taught me how to access his chakra whenever I want... I can't do a whole lot with it, yet, but I did learn how to do something..." Midori explained to Gorou as she made a hand seal. After a few moments of concentration, Midori managed to tap into Kurama's chakra, her body becoming enveloped in a crimson aura. She held her hands over the wound on Keiji's back and closed her eyes. The crimson chakra seemed to move from all over her body, gathering at her hands.

Gorou understood what Midori was doing pretty quickly. The Kyuubi's chakra has regenerative properties. When the host takes an injury, the chakra can speed up the regeneration process in order to make the wound heal rapidly. Midori simply managed to learn how to apply this effect to other people. It was a kind of Medical Ninjutsu that only a Jinchuuriki could use.

Gorou also understood something else. Isobuu hadn't responded when he had called out to it and Kurama hadn't responded when Midori called out to it, either. If the other Jinchuuriki tried to call out to their Bijuu, they probably wouldn't get a response, either. Something was wrong with the Bijuu. Either communications between Bijuu and host have been severed or the Bijuu have simply been incapacitated. Midori was able to access Kurama's chakra, so that implied that the Bijuu were still inside of them.

The wound on Keiji's back healed pretty quickly. He was able to sit up almost immediately after the procedure. Keiji still felt a little shaken after what had just happened, but the pain was entirely gone.

"Thanks, Midori." Keiji said as he stood up, Midori standing up with him.

"Where are we..?" Midori asked, the crimson chakra receding back into her body.

"No idea..." Keiji said with frustration, looking at the door to the cell. All ten Jinchuuriki were trapped here. They couldn't even try to break out of the cell if they wanted to. The bars would somehow repel whatever hit them. "We'll have to wait and see what happens..."

2

All of the shinobi remained on the island of Rakurai. The Chuunin Exams were temporarily canceled due to the fact that the village that was hosting the exams got partially destroyed. Reparations took the utmost priority. The remaining four Kages stayed in the Hidden Cloud Village to oversee the reparations, while most of the other shinobi remained on the island of Rakurai to help with the reconstruction.

Takeshi had requested to meet with Yasuo and Kurizu on the day following the Jinchuuriki incident. They met by the entrance to the only remaining village on the island of Rakurai.

"Sensei..." Yasuo began, his eyes closed tightly. He remembered how things had gone down on the previous day. He and Kurizu had witnessed the Jinchuuriki and Keiji get taken down by a single man. Yasuo and Kurizu had overheard their plan and had figured out that they had set this entire ordeal up. When they tried to tell the Hokage, they were just ignored. When they tried to tell Takeshi back on the island of Rakurai, their concerns were shrugged off. "I cannot believe that you let those guys take Keiji and the other Jinchuuriki..."

"He's our teammate! How could you just sell him out like that?" Kurizu asked, his fists clenched tightly. Takeshi figured that this conversation would head in this direction rather quickly. He let out a sigh and pocketed his hands.

"The Hokage was adamant. He, along with the other three remaining Kages, were positive that it would be best if the Bijuu were just gone. An entire village was almost destroyed and several lives were lost in that incident. The Hokage feels that we can avoid disasters like this if the Bijuu are eliminated. The Jinchuuriki will apparently be left alive after the process, so it isn't too bad." Takeshi said, doubt overwhelmingly present in his voice. "It's best to not to challenge the Hokage when he feels so strongly about something... I have a plan, though. I'm not the type of sensei who would just sell out a teammate in a heartbeat."

As Takeshi was saying this, a boy with black hair held back in a small ponytail walked up to the group. He was wearing dark glasses and had on a dark gray jacket.

"I'm sure you two know who this is." Takeshi said, looking at the boy with the black ponytail.

"Kurou?" Kurizu asked, confused as to why Kurou would even be here.

"Kurou Aburame, of the Aburame clan. They specialize in insects." Yasuo voiced, mainly to himself. He turned to Takeshi. "What is he doing here?"

Takeshi looked at Kurou, silently asking whether he wanted to explain this next part or not. Kurou shrugged his shoulders, so Takeshi decided to explain it.

"The Aburame clan work alongside insects, just as the Inuzuka clan works alongside ninja hounds." Takeshi began. "There are many, many different kinds of insects. Kurou happens to specialize in insects used to track others."

Kurou nodded and slipped a hand out of his pocket, holding his hand out so his palm was facing the sky. There was a small glass container in his hand with a single insect inside of it.

"Our clan discovered a rare type of insect a long time ago, probably around the time of Naruto Uzumaki. The insect is referred to as the _Bikochu Beetle. _At the time, the Bikochu Beetle was very rare and nearly extinct. My clan was able to breed more Bikochu Beetles, as they are very excellent tracking insects." Kurou explained.

"What makes them so great?" Yasuo asked, not really too interested in the subject of bugs.

"They can store a single scent within themselves and track the scent to the owner no matter how far away they are." Kurou explained, both Yasuo and Kurizu immediately understanding what this meant. If they could get something that had Keiji's scent or Midori's scent or any of the other Jinchuuriki's scents on it, they could head over to where they are. "I have a few of these beetles on me at all times. I have two of the beetles with my teammates' scents stored in them, but I brought along a few others in the event that I needed them during the exams."

"This is perfect." Yasuo said. None of them could have known that the figure who had fought against the four Jinchuuriki at the beach, or Zero as he is known within his organization, sealed the Jinchuuriki within another dimension, making them untraceable by any means. "Where will we find something with a scent on it, though?"

"No one has checked the beach yet, as far as I can tell. Check there for something to use. If there is nothing there, then come back here and we'll find something to use. If you don't return here, I'll assume that you guys found something and left." Takeshi explained.

"Alright! We should leave as-"

"Wait." Takeshi interrupted Yasuo. "This is a part of a much more well thought out plan. You'll be leading the other Genin to the location that the Bikochu Beetle takes you. Someone will notice that you're all missing and the Hokage will send shinobi after you guys, meaning that you need to reach the destination as quickly as possible. You'll need to do what you can before you get caught up with. The other Genin should be heading to the beach to meet up soon. Got it?"

"Wow..." Yasuo said, honestly a little shocked that all of the Genin would be a part of this. "Alright. I understand, Takeshi-sensei."

Yasuo and Kurizu both nodded and, along with Kurou, sprinted to the beach on the island of Rakurai. They reached the beach in a matter of minutes. As soon as they neared the ocean, Yasuo, Kurizu, and Kurou saw what they could use to track the Jinchuuriki down.

There was a discarded shirt, a pair of pants, and several other shinobi essentials laying in a pile a few feet away from the water.

"Wasn't that bigger Jinchuuriki guy wearing those yesterday?" Kurizu asked, remembering seeing a man up on the stage wearing clothes identical to the ones now laying in the sand.

"Gorou Yamamoto." Kurou said, providing a name to the description of the man that Kurizu had given.

They found something that they could use to track the Jinchuuriki with the Bikochu Beetle. Kurou explained to Yasuo and Kurizu that it would probably be best to place the beetle on the clothing before the other Genin showed up. If the beetle happened to smell something other than the intended scent, it would be useless. Kurou held the container which had the beetle inside of it in one hand and Gorou's shirt in his other hand. Kurou removed the lid of the container and quickly put the shirt on top of it. He flipped the container over, dropping the beetle onto the shirt, and waited for five minutes to ensure that it would _record _the scent. After the five minutes, Kurou discarded the glass container and allowed the beetle to crawl onto his hand, waiting as it went up his sleeve and inside of his body.

At this exact moment, the other Genin showed up in their own respective teams. Ichiro, Azumi, and Yutaka showed up together. Koji, Baúl, and Takeo Akimichi showed up together. Hisao Hyuuga and Kazumi Nara showed up, regrouping with Kurou.

"So..." Kazumi Nara started. She was a slightly fierce looking girl with long black hair and dark eyes to match. Kazumi was looking at Yasuo as she spoke. She had a single hand on her hip. "You're gonna be leading us?"

"Sort of..." Yasuo responded with a smirk. He turned away from Kazumi. She was always one of the classmates who had interested him the most. She was true to the Nara name. She was intelligent and crafty, but like most of the Nara clan women she was also fierce. She could probably break Yasuo's spirit in a fight merely with her ferocity and relentlessness. "We can't travel as one huge group. Otherwise, we'll stand out. We're going to be following Kurou's Bikochu Beetle to their hideout. Kurou... You have insects that could help us track each other, right?"

Kurou nodded. He had a type that always flew towards the same insect of the opposite sex. He could plant a female insect on one squad and give the other three squads a male insect. The male insect would fly towards the female insect, allowing the other three squads to follow the one squad at a distance. Kurou explained all of this to Yasuo.

"Alright. We'll use this method to keep up with each other." Yasuo said, looking over the entire group. "If it comes to combat, I want you guys to stick to your respective teams. We'll probably be able to work best with our own teams. Anyway, we should leave as soon as possible. We don't want anything to happen to the Jinchuuriki."

3

Back at the headquarters where Keiji, Midori, and the other Jinchuuriki were being held captive, the members of Joka were meeting. The headquarters was pretty much an abandoned tower which had been constructed in the middle of a forest a few dozen miles away from the Hidden Cloud Village on a large island of its own. On the outside, the tower looked completely ravaged by time. The entire area directly surrounding the tower for about twenty feet was scorched and dead. The tower, itself, looked as if it had been hit with a large blast of flames or an explosion.

The inside of the tower looked completely different. The inside gave one the impression that the outside appearance of the tower was just an elaborate illusion. The outside of the tower looked as if it had been hit with an explosion, but the inside looked as though it was completely undamaged. There were five floors in the tower. The bottommost floor, or the first floor, was the basement. This was where the Jinchuuriki were being held. That floor contained several large crates, mostly filled with explosives. There was also the massive cage which was actually holding the Jinchuuriki. The cage had been carved into one of the walls so everything, including the bars to the cage, were made of stone. The walls were a dark gray.

The floor directly above the basement had walls painted with a dark red color. The room was very large and had a huge dining room table at one end. There were six chairs along the right and left sides of the table, adding up to a total of twelve chairs on the sides. The end that was the furthest from the front door was pressed up against the wall. The opposite end had a much more elaborate chair, making the total number of chairs thirteen. Even though this floor made a great place to eat, it was almost never used.

The third floor was a mostly vacant floor mainly consisting of numerous empty, unused rooms. The walls in all of the rooms on this floor were painted a dark blue. The fourth floor was a large empty space. There was what appeared to be a large red circle on the floor drawn with a substance that looked eerily similar to blood. The circle resembled a summoning circle but looked slightly different, at the same time. The walls on this floor had been painted black. There were two windows on each wall. Each window bore dark red curtains, giving this room a very depressing look. The look suited the purpose of the room, however. This was where the separation of Jinchuuriki and Bijuu would take place.

The room above the ritualistic fourth floor was where the members of this organization met up. This room was much smaller than all of the others on any of the previous floors, but it was furnished better than the others. The walls were painted beige. There was a couch alongside the wall directly across from the eastern entrance to the room. Directly in front of the couch was a rectangular wooden table with a glass center. Along the northern wall of the room was a kitchen-like area. There was a refrigerator behind a counter. The counter had a sink and a few other utilities installed into it. Scattered around the room were three single chairs, as well. There was a ceiling fan which was usually kept on. The light on the ceiling fan was usually kept at a dim level. This was the room which was used the most, out of every room in the entire building.

There were seven members of Joka, but only four were meeting on the uppermost floor. Wrath, Cobra, Zero, and Rage. Wrath, the leader of the organization who wore the strange mask, was doing most of the speaking. Zero and Cobra were standing by one another. Rage was laying back on the couch with one leg on the floor and the other leg up on the table. Rage wore exactly what he had been wearing prior to the execution of their plan, minus the forehead protector that he had worn.

"Begin the transmission, Cobra." Wrath said, standing at his usual place by the door.

"Yes, sir." Cobra said, making seven quick hand seals. As he made the last hand seal, his eyes started to glow an eerie blue color. "Renegade... Omni... Gale... Can the three of you hear us?"

"Yes..." the one referred to as Renegade responded. His voice was being transmitted through Cobra's mouth.

"Yeah." the one referred to as Omni replied. His voice was also transmitted through Cobra's mouth.

"Yes." the one referred to as Gale said. Her voice, just like the previous two, was being transmitted through Cobra's mouth as well.

"We can hear the three of you as well. Wrath wants to hold a quick meeting but as you know, you three can't leave your posts." Cobra explained.

Rage let out a sigh from the couch. He never liked having to be so professional around the leader. It was the same way around the Raikage, though.

"Anyway. Now that we have all ten of the Jinchuuriki, I'm going to begin the extraction process starting with the Shukaku and working our way down to the tenth Bijuu. Before I do this, however, we need to figure out what Bijuu the tenth Jinchuuriki has. Zero stole a portion of every Bijuu's chakra, so we'll be able to analyze it." Wrath explained.

"Wait... Wrath." Gale interrupted. "Why even bother analyzing the chakra? The kid is a Jinchuuriki, right?"

Wrath let out a sigh and turned his gaze over to Zero. "Zero. Tell us about your experience with the white haired kid, again." Wrath said, annoyance present in his tone.

"All of the other Jinchuuriki that I silenced didn't appear to have any control over their actions. The white haired Jinchuuriki was fighting with three other Jinchuuriki... He seemed to have control over his actions during the fight. He was still influenced by a chakra similar to the other Jinchuuriki, but he seemed to be able to resist the drug's control-impairing effect." Zero explained, looking down and away from his masked leader as he spoke.

"This means one of three things. Either this power is just some irrelevant power, completely unrelated to the Bijuu, the Bijuu within him was powerful enough to directly control his body while the drug was affecting the kid, or he managed to build up some kind of a resistance to the drug from the first time. The third one is out, because the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki had also been affected by this drug prior, but she lost control this time as well. If it happens to be an irrelevant power that is unrelated to the Bijuu, we cannot kill him. Our purpose is to rid this world of the impurities known as Bijuu, not to kill random kids who happen to be powerful." Wrath explained to the woman who had questioned him through Cobra. Gale fell silent even after Wrath had finished with his explanation. "Zero. You're coming with me so we can examine the chakra. Rage. I want you to head to the basement and guard the cell. We had Zero set up a trap on the bars of the cage, but we can't risk them breaking out. Cobra. You're to remain here and keep communications open between all of us. Gale, Renegade, and Omni... Maintain your positions. There's a chance that someone might come after the Jinchuuriki. I want you three to eliminate anyone who gets near the tower."

Wrath didn't even wait for a response from any of the other six. He turned and walked through the doorway. Zero hurriedly moved after Wrath. Rage went with the two of them, only because he needed to head down to the basement.

4

About ten minutes had passed since the incident with the deflecting cell bars. Keiji's injury healed up quickly thanks to Midori's application of the Kyuubi's chakra. The remaining Jinchuuriki had all woken up and had gone through the same state of confusion which Keiji and Gorou had gone through prior. Gorou explained to the rest of the Jinchuuriki what had happened with Keiji. He told them how when Keiji had tried to hit the bars of the cell, the bars had repelled him with a ridiculous and sudden force.

The Raikage Koga was about to suggest that there could be a way to overpower whatever trap had been set on the cell bars, but Gin stepped up and spoke out first.

"Forget about trying to break out of the cell, for now..." Gin said in a very calm tone. "Whoever kidnapped us is clearly after the Bijuu. There's really no other reason for anyone to capture most of us. What I don't understand, however, is why they took this boy along with us."

Gin was referring to Keiji. As far as everyone knew, there were only nine Jinchuuriki. For some reason though, a tenth person had been taken along with them. They had no knowledge of the Juubi residing within Keiji and with the Juubi keeping its chakra concealed, they would probably never have knowledge of it unless Keiji outright showed them.

Midori knew that there was something strange regarding Keiji. She and Kurama had spoken about it twice before. During the incident with the drug and Zagi, Keiji had undergone a transformation similar to that of a Jinchuuriki. Even though Kurama couldn't sense any kind of powerful chakra within Keiji, it was very likely that he was a Jinchuuriki, of some kind.

"He was with us at the beach..." Hayato spoke up, looking to Gorou and Gin. "You probably didn't notice him because you two were out in the water. The two of us spoke and we noticed you guys convulsing out in the water. Some strange guy showed up and then everything went black for me. My guess is that he thought this kid may have seen something he shouldn't have and took him along."

Keiji's memory was a bit hazy. He didn't remember anything after speaking with Hayato. Hayato's description of what happened to both Gorou and Gin at the beach sounded familiar, but he couldn't exactly figure out why.

Gin nodded his head in acceptance of Hayato's explanation of why Keiji may have been kidnapped along with the rest of them. The group was going to continue speaking, but several lights flickered back on from within their bodies. The Bijuu began to wake up.

_**Kid... **_the Juubi groaned from within Keiji's mind. Keiji was a bit startled at the sound of the Juubi's voice.

_Juubi! What happened to you? Hell, what happened to us..? _Keiji asked mentally. All of the Jinchuuriki were mentally speaking with their respective Bijuu.

_**You don't remember anything? I'll tell you everything that happened... Back at the village, all of you got injected with that drug from a while back that made you and the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki go berserk. Remember that? Then-**_

_Wait! When did that happen? I don't remember ever getting close to a syringe or anything... _

_**It was probably done with a strange technique... It had been done during the speeches on the stage in the village. I don't know how, but that man named Tai must have injected the drug into their bodies when he raised their hands into the air. That was the only time when he was near all of the Jinchuuriki at the same time. Did he come in contact with you at all?**_

Keiji tried to think back to remember if he had been approached by the man named Tai at all. The only strange thing that he could remember was someone bumping into him after all of the hand raising was done.

_No. I don't think he did come in contact with me in a way that could have gotten the drug into my body... _

_**Well, the drug was inside of your body, so he must have gotten to you somehow. Anyway, after all of **__**you went berserk, I took control over your body to prevent the drug from making you go berserk. A blond haired figure showed up and used a strange technique to silence the Jinchuuriki. At first, I thought that he had managed to make the chakra recede... but I can sense the chakra of the Bijuu and I can tell when a portion of it is missing. The figure sent our chakra to some untraceable place and the shock from the sudden loss of chakra probably knocked us all unconscious.**_

What the Juubi was saying made sense to Keiji. Even so, they needed to find a way to escape from this cell. Keiji looked over all of the other Jinchuuriki. Most of them had begun speaking with one another again, sharing stories about what they had been doing prior to blacking out. None of them could remember anything that had happened from when the chakra had started to leak out of their bodies to just waking up in the cell. There was one Jinchuuriki, however, who seemed to be observing the bars to the cell.

_Mika Inoue... _Keiji thought, matching a name to the person observing the bars to the cell. Keiji walked up to her and they started to speak.

"They're rigged with a trap, so you shouldn't touch them." Keiji said, drawing Mika's attention away from the bars for a second.

"I know. There are letters engraved into each of the bars." Mika pointed out. Keiji looked closely at the bars of the cell. In the dark of the basement, it would have been impossible to see the letters that had been engraved into the bars of the cell if one had not been specifically looking for them. The letters appeared to be in some unintelligible language. "The letters say _repulse void. _Saiken, the Rokubi, has seen them before and is able to read the letters..."

"What is a _repulse void?_" Keiji asked, crossing his arms. He didn't find it strange that a Bijuu would be knowledgeable about something like this.

"Apparently, it's an old technique that can only be used by someone with a certain ability..."

"You mean a Kekkei Genkai?"

"No... That would mean that it's passed down from one person to another... This ability is... usually given to the person? I don't understand it... Anyway, Saiken has fought against this ability before. This technique redirects anything that physically hits it." Mika Inoue explained.

Keiji nodded as the woman explained the technique to him. The more he heard about this technique, the more it reminded him of a certain technique used by someone he knew. This technique deflects attacks when they hit the bars of the cell... Kurizu's Bariagan deflects attacks when they hit him. They weren't exactly the same, but the similarities were there.

"I think I have an idea to break out of here..." Keiji said, interrupting Mika as she was speaking. "My friend has a technique that's kinda like this. There's a weakness... His technique makes a barrier of chakra exert from his body as soon as an attack hits him. The barrier isn't indestructible... If you hit it with an attack that's really powerful, it's possible to shatter his barrier."

"Are you suggesting... that we all use a powerful attack on the bars of the cell at the same time? If this goes wrong, our attacks will get reflected back at us and will likely kill us." Mika said, feeling extremely uncertain about this.

"We can't just sit here and wait for someone to come back. They captured you guys for a reason, you know." Keiji said. Mika gave in and accepted Keiji's plan. She shared it with the other Jinchuuriki and agreed to go along with the plan. All ten Jinchuuriki lined up in front of the bars of the cell.

Keiji started off making a few hand seals, creating a sphere of water in the air before him.

Gorou didn't need to make a hand seal to use his technique. His right arm grew large, resembling the techniques used by the Akimichi clan. The skin on his right arm became a dark color and a spiked shell seemed to grow out of half of his back.

Sora, the black haired Jinchuuriki with the earrings, made several hand seals and began to gather air within his lungs.

Lava started to seep out of the pores of Gin's arms, creating a cloak of lava around them. The lava solidified in an instant and gave him a shell of solid lava around his arms. The shell shattered around his left arm and crumbled to the ground. Gin grabbed his armored right wrist with his left hand and aimed his right arm at the bars of the cell.

Koga made several rapid hand seals and clapped his hands together. Electricity engulfed his entire body when his technique had been used.

Mika made rapid hand seals and took a deep breath, just as Sora had.

Yuuta had not needed to cast any hand seals either, just as several other Jinchuuriki had not needed to. A pair of strange insect-like wings protruded from his back, tearing holes in the back of his shirt. His hands became strange insect-like claws and his eyes had become as black as the night sky. Yuuta got down into an odd stance with both arms hanging down in front of him.

Hayato had his hand on the hilt of the large sword on his back. He seemed to be pouring a strange yellow chakra into the blade. Odd suction cups seemed to be spouting out of random places on that arm, as well.

Midori and Fuyu did not have any large scale or powerful attacks to contribute with, nor were they as well acquainted with their Bijuu's abilities as the others were. The two of them simply stood back and waited to see the results of this attack.

Just as Rage started to make his way down the staircase into the basement, the Jinchuuriki let loose all of their attacks.

Keiji launched the water sphere at the bars of the cell. As it made contact with the bars of the cell, the sphere of water exploded. Sora and Mika both released their own attacks simultaneously. Sora had released a powerful blast of air enhanced with the chakra of the Ichibi. Mika had released a corrosive gas from her lungs. Both attacks had hit the bars of the cell. Gorou had leaped at the bars of the cell and slammed his enlarged fist into them. His arm had been coated with a shell similar to the one which had grown out of his back. Gin had moved his left hand up his right arm, stopping just beneath the shoulder. He gripped tightly enough to crack the black lava around his arm. He had filled the black shell up with copious amounts of lava, so much so that it had been about to cause the shell to burst. He had broken one end of the shell, releasing the lava contained within it instantly. This caused the shell, which had been molded around his arm, to get launched forward from the release of the pressure. The solidified lava arm collided with the bars of the cage. Koga had held both arms out in front of him, both palms facing the bars of the cell. A single sphere of electricity had formed between both of his palms. When it had gotten powerful enough, Koga launched the sphere of electricity at the bars of the cell. Yuuta had slashed at the air with both of his clawed hands, sending a shockwave at the bars of the cell. Hayato's right arm had fully become a tentacle. He drew his sword and, using the tentacle to extend his reach, thrust the yellow chakra coated blade into the bars of the cell.


	13. Characters

[I am posting this list of character information to help the readers keep track of the characters in the story. I'll be updating this each time I post a character, so use this as a reference~]

Character Information

Keiji Jakunen

Keiji Jakunen is a twelve year old Genin. He was put onto a squad with his childhood friends Kurizu Shimizu and Yasuo Arai. He has a Water chakra nature and a large supply of chakra. Keiji fights with a kusarigama, which was branded with the name Hangetsu. He is a Jinchuuriki and is the host of the Juubi. The Juubi's chakra allows him to corrode things that he touches. The chakra also has the ability to alter his techniques drastically, according to the will of the user. Keiji intends to use the Juubi's power to help him out during his journey to become a powerful shinobi.

Kurizu Shimizu

Kurizu Shimizu is a twelve year old Genin. He was put onto a squad with his childhood friends Keiji Jakunen and Yasuo Arai. He is a part of the Shimizu clan, which is known for their Kekkei Genkai the Bariagan. Kurizu has awakened his own Bariagan, which is an eye technique that allows the user to deflect a single attack that makes contact with them by using their own chakra as the means. Kurizu is currently in training to learn Medical techniques.

Yasuo Arai

Yasuo Arai is a twelve year old Genin. He was put onto a squad with his childhood friends Keiji Jakunen and Yasuo Arai. Yasuo has summoning seals all over his body, each of which are linked to a different weapon. By applying chakra to a seal, he can summon a specific weapon at will. Yasuo also has a Lightning chakra nature, which he mostly uses in conjunction with his weapons. Yasuo's goal is to acquire the power necessary to protect himself.

Takeshi

Not very much is known about Takeshi. He was assigned to be a squad leader to Keiji Jakunen, Kurizu Shimizu, and Yasuo Arai. He seems to be a person who abides by the rules and laws with no desire to stray from them. He also seems to have taken an interest in Yasuo, for whatever reason. Takeshi seems to primarily fight enemies by using Medical Ninjutsu.

Ichiro Yamanaka

Ichiro is a twelve year old Genin. He was put onto a squad with Azumi Uchiha and Yutaka Rikishi. A whole lot isn't known about him. He fights using his clan's jutsu and poisoned weapons, so it can be presumed that he has an interest in toxicology.

Azumi Uchiha

Azumi is a twelve year old Genin. She was put onto a squad with Ichiro Yamanaka and Yutaka Rikishi. Azumi uses hand to hand combat and Katon Ninjutsu to fight. She has awakened her Sharingan.

Yutaka Rikishi

Nothing has been revealed about Yutaka Rikishi, other than the fact that he has been put onto a squad with Ichiro Yamanaka and Azumi Uchiha. According to rumors, he strictly fights using Taijutsu, even though he can use both Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. Apparently, he knows a single technique which makes his entire body numb, enhancing his Taijutsu skills in an interesting way.

Koji Inuzuka

Koji Inuzuka is a twelve year old Genin. He was put onto a squad with Midori Sarutobi and Takeo Akimichi. He is accompanied by Baúl and they fight together, occasionally empowered by food pills. Koji has yet to learn his clan's main technique Gatsuga, but he and Baúl make a good enough team as they are. Like Keiji, he has a respect for animals. Koji currently has an interest in Midori Sarutobi.

Midori Sarutobi

Midori Sarutobi is a twelve year old Genin. She was put onto a squad with Koji Inuzuka and Takeo Akimichi. Her style of fighting involves the use of clones as distractions. She is the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki and has recently made contact with the Kyuubi. The contact was forced, but contact was still made, so she is able to access its chakra to an extent.

Takeo Akimichi

Not much has been revealed about Takeo Akimichi other than the fact that he was put onto a squad with Koji Inuzuka and Midori Sarutobi. He is a part of the Akimichi clan, so he is probably heavier than most of his classmates and his fighting style probably involves the use of his clan's techniques which increase the size of his body.

Hisao Hyuuga

Not much has been revealed about Hisao Hyuuga other than the fact that he was put onto a squad with Kurou Aburame and Kazumi Nara. He is a Hyuuga, so it can be assumed that he fights using the Gentle Fist and that he can likely use the Byakugan.

Kurou Aburame

Not much has been revealed about Kurou Aburame other than the fact that he was put onto a squad with Hisao Hyuuga and Kazumi Nara. He is a part of the Aburame clan, so it can be assumed that he uses insects stored inside of his body to combat his foes.

Kazumi Nara

Not much has been revealed about Kazumi Nara other than the fact that she was put onto a squad with Hisao Hyuuga and Kurou Aburame. She is a part of the Nara clan, so it can be assumed that she is able to manipulate shadows.

Zagi

Zagi is a part of an organization whose intentions and purpose are unknown. He was assigned to perform discreet tests on the hounds of the Inuzuka clan. Keiji Jakunen, Koji Inuzuka, and Midori Sarutobi chased after him after figuring out that he could be a lead suspect in the drugging of the hounds. They fought and Zagi managed to inject the drug into both Keiji and Midori, which happened to draw out the Bijuu's chakra from within them. He seems to have escaped with a fatal wound on his chest and a busted nose. Not too long after making his escape, however, he was murdered by someone who is likely a part of the same organization.

Cobra 

Cobra is a member of the organization Joka. It is currently unknown what kind of person he is or what kind of techniques he can use, but the leader of the organization trusts him enough to leave him in charge. This might hint at his strength in comparison to the other members. Cobra was also the member of Joka who killed Zagi, stating that it was due to his incompetence that he had to die.

Wrath

Wrath is the leader of the organization Joka. It is currently unknown what kind of person he is or what kind of techniques he can use. He has taken an interest in a boy named Zero, who is said to be an asset to Joka's plan.

Zero

Zero is the most recent member of the organization Joka. Nothing is known about his personality or his abilities, but the leader has personally taken an interest in training Zero. According to Wrath, Zero has an ability which can prove useful to Joka's plan.

Rage

Rage is a part of the organization Joka. He went under the guise of Tai for years and was the primary means for the execution of Joka's plan. He has a strange, albeit unknown, ability.

Gin

Gin is the brother of the current Raikage and is also the host of the Yonbi. He uses the Lava Style in several different ways when he fights. He is dedicated to helping his brother Koga achieve his ambitions and he often finds himself being asked requests or for advice by Koga.

Koga

Koga is the current Raikage. He is also the host of the Gobi. He has a pretty decent amount of scarring on his face and is often troubled by it. Koga is viewed as a symbol of power.

Zaku Arai

Yasuo Arai's father. He was a part of a bandit clan which had an interest in performing human experiments in order to figure out a way to create a perfect weaponized shinobi. Zaku performed experiments on his one year old son and is the one who put the summoning seals on Yasuo's body. Yasuo harbors a grudge against him.

Sora Tanaka

Sora is the Jinchuuriki host of the Ichibi. He is a part of the Hidden Mist Village.

Fuyu Kato

Fuyu is the Jinchuuriki host of the Nibi. She is a part of the Hidden Rock Village. Fuyu is a Genin and is easily intimidated, even though she is a Jinchuuriki.

Gorou Yamamoto

Gorou is the Jinchuuriki host of the Sanbi. He is a part of the Hidden Sand Village. Gorou is a very carefree man and cannot keep still for long periods of time.

Mika Inoue

Mika is the Jinchuuriki host of the Rokubi. She is a part of the Hidden Sand Village.

Yuuta Sasaki

Yuuta is the Jinchuuriki host of the Shichibi. He is a part of the Hidden Rock Village. Yuuta is a very closed off person and prefers to have as little interaction with others as necessary.

Hayato Mori

Hayato is the Jinchuuriki host of the Hachibi. He is a part of the Hidden Mist Village. Several years ago, he protected his entire village by slicing a tsunami in half.


End file.
